Senate Confirms One of Its Own as Ambassador to China

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/us/politics/senate-confirms-one-of-its-own-as-ambassador-to-china.html

Version 0 of 1.

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 96 to 0 on Thursday to confirm Senator Max Baucus as the new ambassador to China.

Mr. Baucus, a Democrat, has represented Montana in the Senate since 1978, and as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, he has been a major voice during many of the major policy debates of the past decade. He also was an architect of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

His departure from the Senate will have a domino effect among the Senate’s Democratic leaders. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, who is now chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, will become leader of the powerful Finance Committee; Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, is expected to replace Mr. Wyden on the energy panel. Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, a Democrat, is expected to name a replacement for Mr. Baucus.

In his farewell address on the Senate floor on Thursday, Mr. Baucus described what he called the defining period of his life — the year he took off from college to travel to India, Japan and China.

“Before I departed, I had never thought about a life of public service, but that trip opened my eyes, it charted my course,” he said. “I realized how people across the globe were interconnected, and I saw the indispensable role America plays as a leader on the world stage.

“The world is getting smaller,” he added. “Our natural resources are diminishing. We have to find a way to work together better.”

Mr. Baucus said he was most proud of two pieces of legislation he worked on: the Affordable Care Act and a 2010 law that used the Montana National Guard’s post-traumatic stress disorder screening as a model to expand such programs nationwide.

“It’s been almost four years since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law,” Mr. Baucus said. “In that time, the law has done more than any in the past half-century to expand access to health coverage.”

“It has been a challenge I am proud to have taken on,” he added.