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Sen. Max Baucus

Former Senator for Montana

Baucus was a senator from Montana and was a Democrat. He served from 1978 to 2014.

He was previously the representative for Montana’s 1st congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 to 1978.

Photo of Sen. Max Baucus [D-MT, 1978-2014]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2013 Report Card for Baucus.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Baucus is shown as a purple triangle in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2014 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Baucus sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2009 to Dec 12, 2014. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Baucus was the primary sponsor of 45 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 45 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Baucus sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Foreign Trade and International Finance (32%) Taxation (21%) Health (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (10%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (9%) Social Welfare (7%) Water Resources Development (5%) Agriculture and Food (4%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Baucus recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Baucus voted Yea

Baucus voted Nay

Bill Passed 69/27 on May 6, 2013.

Baucus voted Nay

Bill Passed 73/26 on Mar 22, 2012.

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, is a law intended to encourage funding of small businesses in the United States by easing …

Baucus voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 72/23 on May 26, 2011.

Baucus voted Yea

Baucus voted Nay

Bill Passed 86/12 on Feb 15, 2011.

Baucus voted Yea

Motion Agreed to 81/19 on Dec 15, 2010.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known …

Baucus voted Nay

Baucus voted Yea

Missed Votes

From Feb 1979 to Feb 2014, Baucus missed 283 of 12,444 roll call votes, which is 2.3%. This is on par with the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Feb 2014. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

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Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: