Max Baucus

Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014.

A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the longest-serving U.S. senator in Montana history.

Maxwell Sieben Enke was born on December 11, 1941, in Helena, Montana, to historian and rancher Jean Sheriff (1917–2011) and Stephen Enke (1916–1974), a demographer and economist.

His father, born in British Columbia, Canada, was of German and Scottish descent, and his mother had English and German ancestry.

Baucus lived in California until he was two, when his mother left his father and returned to Helena.

She later married John J. Baucus, and she and her son, Max, took his surname.

Baucus graduated from Helena High School in 1959.

After attending local public schools in his hometown of Helena, he attended Carleton College in Minnesota for a year before transferring to Stanford University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1964, and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

After graduating, he attended Stanford Law School and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1967.

After finishing law school, Baucus spent three years as a lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He moved back to his native Montana in 1971 to serve as the executive director of the state's Constitutional Convention, opening a law office in Missoula, Montana.

In November 1972, Baucus was elected to the Montana House of Representatives as a state representative from Missoula.

He previously served in the Montana House of Representatives from 1973 to 1974.

In November 1974 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, and was re-elected in 1976.

Before his election to the Senate, Baucus was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1978, representing Montana's 1st congressional district.

Baucus was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 7, 1978, for the term beginning January 3, 1979, but was subsequently appointed to the seat by Montana's Democratic Governor Thomas Lee Judge on December 15, 1978, to fill the brief vacancy created by Senator Paul G. Hatfield's resignation.

In 1994, Baucus cast a pivotal vote in favor of Senator Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) "Assault Weapons" Ban.

In 1996 Baucus voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which prohibited "marriage between members of the same sex in federal law, and provide that no state is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states" and defined marriage as being between a single man and a single woman.

In 1999, Baucus was the only Democrat to vote against an amendment by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) that sought to "regulate the sale of firearms at gun shows".

Baucus has a 74% pro-business voting record as rated by the United States Chamber of Commerce.

He twice voted to make filing bankruptcy more difficult for debtors, once in July 2001 to restrict rules on personal bankruptcy, and a second time in March 2005 to include means-testing and restrictions for bankruptcy filers.

He has frequently visited places of employment within the state and has personally participated in activities that he calls "Work Days".

The American Civil Liberties Union rated Baucus at 60 percent in December 2002, indicating a mixed civil rights voting record.

Baucus voted against giving voting representation to the District of Columbia.

However, in 2004 he voted against the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and in June 2012, he definitively spoke out in support for same-sex marriage.

He has supported measures to curb job discrimination and hate crimes based on sexual orientation.

In March 2005, Baucus voted against repealing tax subsidies benefiting companies that outsource U.S. jobs offshore.

In 2006, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) gave Baucus a 67% overall rating indicating having a mixed record on voting for gay rights.

On January 4, 2007, he wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal calling on Democrats to renew President George W. Bush's fast-track authority for international trade deals.

In response, the Montana State Senate passed a resolution, 44-6, "that the U.S. Congress be urged to create a replacement for the outdated fast track system".

NARAL Pro-Choice America's political action committee endorsed Baucus during his 2008 election campaign.

He voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

In 2012, Baucus added to a transportation bill in Congress that extended the regulations covering cigarette manufacturers to "roll your own cigarette" stores that operate mass cigarette rolling machines.

On April 23, 2013, a Democratic official confirmed that Baucus would not seek a seventh term.

As a Democratic member of the Senate, Baucus was conservative, and frequently broke with his party on the issues of taxes, the environment, health care, and gun control.

The web site That's My Congress gives him a 23 percent rating on progressive issues it tracks.

In 2013, Baucus was one of four Democrats to vote against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment to expand background checks for potential gun buyers.

He is an avid hunter.

President Barack Obama appointed Baucus to replace Gary Locke as the 11th U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, a position he held from 2014 until 2017.

As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Baucus played an influential role in the debate over health care reform in the United States.

He was also chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and was chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure.