US Senate - Obama Presidency Oral History Back US Senate Index / Organizations Transcript Gina McCarthy ...me about the confirmation hearing with the Senate Committee on Environment and Publi... ...Act], and it lost by two votes in the Senate . I don't think they were interested i... Heather Zichal ...of 2008. I remember I was leaving the Senate , where I was working for John Kerry a... ...US senator. The Capitol complex and the US Senate offices all have these undergroun... ...sure he found his way to the floor of the Senate so that he could vote. And then, I wa... ...how we're going to find the votes in the Senate . We've got this backdrop of economi... ...legislation. We were engaged in the Senate with John Kerry trying to figure ou... ...political support to move that bill in the Senate . We sort of didn't know early day... ...was a lot of support when he was in the Senate for corn-based ethanol. There was ... ...in a dialogue about, like, Okay, the Senate 's next. So what are the enablin... ...we're doing as much as we can to set up the Senate for success. I wanted to ask yo... ...have a clear path to getting through the Senate , but it doesn't mean we don't need a... ...was leading the discussions in the US Senate , and he was obviously dogged in hi... ...of 2008. I remember I was leaving the Senate , where I was working for John Kerry a... ...US senator. The Capitol complex and the US Senate offices all have these undergroun... ...sure he found his way to the floor of the Senate so that he could vote. And then, I wa... ...how we're going to find the votes in the Senate . We've got this backdrop of economi... ...legislation. We were engaged in the Senate with John Kerry trying to figure ou... ...political support to move that bill in the Senate . We sort of didn't know early day... ...was a lot of support when he was in the Senate for corn-based ethanol. There was ... ...in a dialogue about, like, Okay, the Senate 's next. So what are the enablin... ...we're doing as much as we can to set up the Senate for success. I wanted to ask yo... ...have a clear path to getting through the Senate , but it doesn't mean we don't need a... ...was leading the discussions in the US Senate , and he was obviously dogged in hi... Show more... Kathleen Sebelius ...Humphrey [Jr.]. My dad was running for the Senate at the time, the United States Senate... ...run again. But Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to run against Bill Clinton. And ther... ...And I said, “If you get elected to the Senate , I don't like my senator, so you ca... ...is long, so you can go do your work in the Senate , sit down and get in line. But thos... ...and friend, and helped Obama in the Senate , and did all kinds of things—and hi... ...president, Bill Clinton, one Dole left the Senate . This time we're going to have anothe... ...we're going to have another Dole leave the Senate .” So when Bob Dole first called me... ...twenty-eighth of April, the day that the Senate concluded my hearings. I left thi... ...“In the event that I'm confirmed by the Senate , I hereby resign, because I had to ge... ...I had to get on an airplane before the Senate had completed their vote.” [Laughs] ... ...who had the majority in the House and the Senate , but Democrats decided in this theor... ...the Finance Committee. And neither of the Senate bills looked anything like the Hous... ...It cannot exist unless the leader of the Senate and the leader of the House and th... ...to roll. What ground to a halt was the Senate Finance Committee. That's where I woul... ...it. And you were involved in combining the Senate bills when eventually the Senat... ...the Senate bills when eventually the Senate Finance Committee offered their bill? ... ...defer to Max Baucus, who as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said to the presiden... ...team who had been working closely with the Senate on language, not with Harry Reid, no... ...votes to get a bill on the floor of the Senate . That is where it started. Would ther... ...Eve, December twenty-fourth, 2009, the Senate passed the Patient Protection an... ...chaired was my confirmation hearing in the Senate HELP Committee, which he then led. ... ...would be pinned on the floor of the Senate until the vote occurred. So they wante... ...being able to come to the floor of the Senate when he was not able to physicall... ...in efforts to reconcile the House and the Senate versions of healthcare legislation... ...The House leadership Democratic, the Senate leadership Democratic, literally ... ...knew what was in the House bill and the Senate bill; he knew all of the areas wher... ...would literally physically get up. Or the Senate would leave the room. And each time... ...either of the product in the House or the Senate . That's fascinating. So it was one o... ...there were people both in the House and the Senate who made it clear that if that issue... ...elected that the House would never pass the Senate bill. They didn't like the Senate bill... ...pass the Senate bill. They didn't like the Senate bill. And now that these negotiation... ...gone on, they knew exactly what was in the Senate bill. It was one thing if this ha... ...if this had happened the day after the Senate had passed a bill and you just had t... ...all of what they saw as limitations of the Senate bill. All of the failures to addres... ...when you learned that the House passed the Senate 's healthcare reform legislation. ... ...seats in the House and more seats in the Senate . It was a successful campaign issu... ...things. When the proposal came to the Senate Finance Committee, there were a numbe... ...energy was the fact that we didn't have the Senate pass an energy bill that had a lot o... ...Humphrey [Jr.]. My dad was running for the Senate at the time, the United States Senate... ...run again. But Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to run against Bill Clinton. And ther... ...And I said, “If you get elected to the Senate , I don't like my senator, so you ca... ...is long, so you can go do your work in the Senate , sit down and get in line. But thos... ...and friend, and helped Obama in the Senate , and did all kinds of things—and hi... ...president, Bill Clinton, one Dole left the Senate . This time we're going to have anothe... ...we're going to have another Dole leave the Senate .” So when Bob Dole first called me... ...twenty-eighth of April, the day that the Senate concluded my hearings. I left thi... ...“In the event that I'm confirmed by the Senate , I hereby resign, because I had to ge... ...I had to get on an airplane before the Senate had completed their vote.” [Laughs] ... ...who had the majority in the House and the Senate , but Democrats decided in this theor... ...the Finance Committee. And neither of the Senate bills looked anything like the Hous... ...It cannot exist unless the leader of the Senate and the leader of the House and th... ...to roll. What ground to a halt was the Senate Finance Committee. That's where I woul... ...it. And you were involved in combining the Senate bills when eventually the Senat... ...the Senate bills when eventually the Senate Finance Committee offered their bill? ... ...defer to Max Baucus, who as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said to the presiden... ...team who had been working closely with the Senate on language, not with Harry Reid, no... ...votes to get a bill on the floor of the Senate . That is where it started. Would ther... ...Eve, December twenty-fourth, 2009, the Senate passed the Patient Protection an... ...chaired was my confirmation hearing in the Senate HELP Committee, which he then led. ... ...would be pinned on the floor of the Senate until the vote occurred. So they wante... ...being able to come to the floor of the Senate when he was not able to physicall... ...in efforts to reconcile the House and the Senate versions of healthcare legislation... ...The House leadership Democratic, the Senate leadership Democratic, literally ... ...knew what was in the House bill and the Senate bill; he knew all of the areas wher... ...would literally physically get up. Or the Senate would leave the room. And each time... ...either of the product in the House or the Senate . That's fascinating. So it was one o... ...there were people both in the House and the Senate who made it clear that if that issue... ...elected that the House would never pass the Senate bill. They didn't like the Senate bill... ...pass the Senate bill. They didn't like the Senate bill. And now that these negotiation... ...gone on, they knew exactly what was in the Senate bill. It was one thing if this ha... ...if this had happened the day after the Senate had passed a bill and you just had t... ...all of what they saw as limitations of the Senate bill. All of the failures to addres... ...when you learned that the House passed the Senate 's healthcare reform legislation. ... ...seats in the House and more seats in the Senate . It was a successful campaign issu... ...things. When the proposal came to the Senate Finance Committee, there were a numbe... ...energy was the fact that we didn't have the Senate pass an energy bill that had a lot o... ...Humphrey [Jr.]. My dad was running for the Senate at the time, the United States Senate... ...run again. But Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to run against Bill Clinton. And ther... ...And I said, “If you get elected to the Senate , I don't like my senator, so you ca... ...is long, so you can go do your work in the Senate , sit down and get in line. But thos... ...and friend, and helped Obama in the Senate , and did all kinds of things—and hi... ...president, Bill Clinton, one Dole left the Senate . This time we're going to have anothe... ...we're going to have another Dole leave the Senate .” So when Bob Dole first called me... ...twenty-eighth of April, the day that the Senate concluded my hearings. I left thi... ...“In the event that I'm confirmed by the Senate , I hereby resign, because I had to ge... ...I had to get on an airplane before the Senate had completed their vote.” [Laughs] ... ...who had the majority in the House and the Senate , but Democrats decided in this theor... ...the Finance Committee. And neither of the Senate bills looked anything like the Hous... ...It cannot exist unless the leader of the Senate and the leader of the House and th... ...to roll. What ground to a halt was the Senate Finance Committee. That's where I woul... ...it. And you were involved in combining the Senate bills when eventually the Senat... ...the Senate bills when eventually the Senate Finance Committee offered their bill? ... ...defer to Max Baucus, who as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said to the presiden... ...team who had been working closely with the Senate on language, not with Harry Reid, no... ...votes to get a bill on the floor of the Senate . That is where it started. Would ther... ...Eve, December twenty-fourth, 2009, the Senate passed the Patient Protection an... ...chaired was my confirmation hearing in the Senate HELP Committee, which he then led. ... ...would be pinned on the floor of the Senate until the vote occurred. So they wante... ...being able to come to the floor of the Senate when he was not able to physicall... ...in efforts to reconcile the House and the Senate versions of healthcare legislation... ...The House leadership Democratic, the Senate leadership Democratic, literally ... ...knew what was in the House bill and the Senate bill; he knew all of the areas wher... ...would literally physically get up. Or the Senate would leave the room. And each time... ...either of the product in the House or the Senate . That's fascinating. So it was one o... ...there were people both in the House and the Senate who made it clear that if that issue... ...elected that the House would never pass the Senate bill. They didn't like the Senate bill... ...pass the Senate bill. They didn't like the Senate bill. And now that these negotiation... ...gone on, they knew exactly what was in the Senate bill. It was one thing if this ha... ...if this had happened the day after the Senate had passed a bill and you just had t... ...all of what they saw as limitations of the Senate bill. All of the failures to addres... ...when you learned that the House passed the Senate 's healthcare reform legislation. ... ...seats in the House and more seats in the Senate . It was a successful campaign issu... ...things. When the proposal came to the Senate Finance Committee, there were a numbe... ...energy was the fact that we didn't have the Senate pass an energy bill that had a lot o... Show more... Lisa Jackson ...name, but you testified in front of the Senate Committee. I think it was on ocea... ...“That's Lisa Jackson You met her at the Senate hearing, da, da, da,” and then the... ...Of course, it never got a vote in the Senate . Yes. We're so happy to have tha... Max Baucus ...of Representatives, and then to the US Senate for Montana, where he served six term... ...before becoming ambassador to China. In the Senate , he sponsored the 1990 Clean Air Act... ...the 1990 Clean Air Act, was chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee... ...Public Works Committee, and chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Most relevant fo... ...relevant for our conversation today, in the Senate Mr. Baucus was a lead sponsor of th... ...other committees have jurisdiction—both the Senate and the House. And rightfully, the... ...Chuck sat me down on the floor of the Senate , says, “Max, I've got to talk to you.... ...it. Now, when did this conversation on the Senate floor happen with Grassley? I'll hav... ...is that a usual way of operation in the Senate and in the Congress, that nobody woul... ...How did the negotiations go in the Senate to combine the health bill with th... ...are you? This is the negotiations in the Senate to combine the Health and the Financ... ...spending? The White House sided with the Senate , versus the House bill. Do yo... ...closer to the House Democrats than to the Senate Democrats or to the White House. We'r... ...a little closer to the House than to the Senate . Me, we, I don't know. I can't spea... ...able to contribute a little bit. So, the Senate votes on Christmas Eve of 2009. Do yo... ...you'd rather not be in Washington, in the Senate .” Is that your memory at all of it? ... ...in early 2010, now it's—have to bring the Senate and the House bills together. There's ... ...between the House Democrats and the Senate Democrats. I was wondering if yo... ...that way. Ted Kennedy on the floor of the Senate —I think he's one of the bes... ...I've ever seen. On the floor of the Senate , he'd stand up. He rails, impassioned... ...But I knew what I thought could pass the Senate . And of course, House Democrat... ...in the meeting? He was just letting the Senate — Broker. He was more of a broker... ...the majority party. Even right now, the Senate rules—we have rules in the Senate. Bu... ...now, the Senate rules—we have rules in the Senate . But the rules, essentially, are onl... ...Were there conversations between you, the Senate in general, your committee, with th... ...Republicans on your committee, or in the Senate —the fact that it was blowing up? ... ...the issue of the, at least within the Senate , of trying to achieve this—of th... ...to little bit of cooperation in the Senate . If the filibuster is eliminated, it'... ...it's going to—on the margin—make the Senate even more partisan, because then th... ...maybe in general about your time in the Senate —what you thought about the utility o... ...it bad? I don't know. When I was in the Senate , I put a lot of earmarks for... ...that I can see. I talked my friends in the Senate . They said, “Max, we're not doing muc... ...years—revered in Montana, revered in the Senate , and revered overseas, and revered b... ...first choice, frankly, when he left the Senate , was to be ambassador to China. Bu... ...in China anyway. When I was in the Senate , I would take many congressiona... ...was so important that when I was in the Senate , I would invite Chinese ambassadors t... ...You have an awful lot of knowledge of the Senate . You also have an awful lot o... ...of all, that's what I tried to do in the Senate . Some of the very left-wing Democrat... ...of Representatives, and then to the US Senate for Montana, where he served six term... ...before becoming ambassador to China. In the Senate , he sponsored the 1990 Clean Air Act... ...the 1990 Clean Air Act, was chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee... ...Public Works Committee, and chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Most relevant fo... ...relevant for our conversation today, in the Senate Mr. Baucus was a lead sponsor of th... ...other committees have jurisdiction—both the Senate and the House. And rightfully, the... ...Chuck sat me down on the floor of the Senate , says, “Max, I've got to talk to you.... ...it. Now, when did this conversation on the Senate floor happen with Grassley? I'll hav... ...is that a usual way of operation in the Senate and in the Congress, that nobody woul... ...How did the negotiations go in the Senate to combine the health bill with th... ...are you? This is the negotiations in the Senate to combine the Health and the Financ... ...spending? The White House sided with the Senate , versus the House bill. Do yo... ...closer to the House Democrats than to the Senate Democrats or to the White House. We'r... ...a little closer to the House than to the Senate . Me, we, I don't know. I can't spea... ...able to contribute a little bit. So, the Senate votes on Christmas Eve of 2009. Do yo... ...you'd rather not be in Washington, in the Senate .” Is that your memory at all of it? ... ...in early 2010, now it's—have to bring the Senate and the House bills together. There's ... ...between the House Democrats and the Senate Democrats. I was wondering if yo... ...that way. Ted Kennedy on the floor of the Senate —I think he's one of the bes... ...I've ever seen. On the floor of the Senate , he'd stand up. He rails, impassioned... ...But I knew what I thought could pass the Senate . And of course, House Democrat... ...in the meeting? He was just letting the Senate — Broker. He was more of a broker... ...the majority party. Even right now, the Senate rules—we have rules in the Senate. Bu... ...now, the Senate rules—we have rules in the Senate . But the rules, essentially, are onl... ...Were there conversations between you, the Senate in general, your committee, with th... ...Republicans on your committee, or in the Senate —the fact that it was blowing up? ... ...the issue of the, at least within the Senate , of trying to achieve this—of th... ...to little bit of cooperation in the Senate . If the filibuster is eliminated, it'... ...it's going to—on the margin—make the Senate even more partisan, because then th... ...maybe in general about your time in the Senate —what you thought about the utility o... ...it bad? I don't know. When I was in the Senate , I put a lot of earmarks for... ...that I can see. I talked my friends in the Senate . They said, “Max, we're not doing muc... ...years—revered in Montana, revered in the Senate , and revered overseas, and revered b... ...first choice, frankly, when he left the Senate , was to be ambassador to China. Bu... ...in China anyway. When I was in the Senate , I would take many congressiona... ...was so important that when I was in the Senate , I would invite Chinese ambassadors t... ...You have an awful lot of knowledge of the Senate . You also have an awful lot o... ...of all, that's what I tried to do in the Senate . Some of the very left-wing Democrat... Show more... Nancy Nielsen ...for years, had good relationships with the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate HEL... ...with the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate HELP [Health, Education, Labor, an... ...relationships with the staffers of the Senate Finance Committee. We had goo... ...mid-January of 2010, of course, after the Senate had passed its version of health car... ...rose from his deathbed and came to the Senate ? Can you set the stage on what tha... Nancy Sutley ...you mentioned being confirmed by the Senate . And I wanted to start with thi... ...environmental record while he was in the Senate . But these were not issues that h... ...were, were there sixty votes in the Senate . It was relatively clear that yo... ...legislation just never materialized in the Senate . There were some people who are stil... ...There were some people who are still in the Senate who talked a good game but neve... ...but there wasn't much going on in the Senate . And I think we recognized from th... ...himself cared a lot about—he was new in the Senate when Hurricane Katrina happened, and ... ...you mentioned being confirmed by the Senate . And I wanted to start with thi... ...environmental record while he was in the Senate . But these were not issues that h... ...were, were there sixty votes in the Senate . It was relatively clear that yo... ...legislation just never materialized in the Senate . There were some people who are stil... ...There were some people who are still in the Senate who talked a good game but neve... ...but there wasn't much going on in the Senate . And I think we recognized from th... ...himself cared a lot about—he was new in the Senate when Hurricane Katrina happened, and ... Show more... Neera Tanden ...of a staffer for her. Then I went to the Senate campaign. That's where I moved fro... ...been with the president when he was in the Senate , was really great and welcoming. ... ...bulk of the bill was really written by the Senate , in the end of the day. So we wer... ...was a senator, so it was sort of like the Senate writes th... ...get sixty votes for a public option in the Senate , and I think fundamentally because th... ...or in that case sixty votes in the Senate , you can't pass the bill, even if it'... ...really hard to do with sixty votes in the Senate for most of the time. The idea that yo... ...Over the weekend, it dawned on me that the Senate had passed the bill. The House wil... ...not going to pass after Scott Brown won the Senate seat and we only had fifty-nine vote... ...to the president, the House, and the Senate all recognizing that we—I think the... ...to go forward on a plan to just pass the Senate bill. I learned a really importan... ...day the efforts to repeal it died in the Senate . We were working with all thes... ...even when they had fifty-two votes in the Senate , Republicans were not able to us... ...could do if he lost the House and the Senate , or just lost a House. We put tha... ...of a staffer for her. Then I went to the Senate campaign. That's where I moved fro... ...been with the president when he was in the Senate , was really great and welcoming. ... ...bulk of the bill was really written by the Senate , in the end of the day. So we wer... ...was a senator, so it was sort of like the Senate writes th... ...get sixty votes for a public option in the Senate , and I think fundamentally because th... ...or in that case sixty votes in the Senate , you can't pass the bill, even if it'... ...really hard to do with sixty votes in the Senate for most of the time. The idea that yo... ...Over the weekend, it dawned on me that the Senate had passed the bill. The House wil... ...not going to pass after Scott Brown won the Senate seat and we only had fifty-nine vote... ...to the president, the House, and the Senate all recognizing that we—I think the... ...to go forward on a plan to just pass the Senate bill. I learned a really importan... ...day the efforts to repeal it died in the Senate . We were working with all thes... ...even when they had fifty-two votes in the Senate , Republicans were not able to us... ...could do if he lost the House and the Senate , or just lost a House. We put tha... Show more... Peter Orszag ...in the world, because I had interned at the Senate Office. That's a great story. Thank... ...it's not unusual to get invited up to the Senate to go brief Senator x on topic y... ...there, that the sort of median voter in the Senate had not shifted perspective massively... ...think that would have worked either in the Senate or popularly, despite the fact tha... ...that if the public option wouldn't pass the Senate , then we had to ditch the publi... ...because the balance of voting in the Senate was so finely just barely making i... ...counted a lot. In your actions with the Senate , with the House, over the whole cours... ...you learned that the House had passed the Senate 's healthcare reform legislation o... Show more... Regina Benjamin ...end of October that you're confirmed by the Senate . Could you describe how yo... 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