Max Baucus
Max Sieben Baucus (born December 11, 1941) is the United States Ambassador to China. He served as a United States Senator from Montana from December 15, 1978, until shortly after being confirmed as Ambassador on February 6, 2014. Baucus was the longest-serving U.S. senator from Montana. A member of the Democratic Party, Baucus was appointed to serve as Ambassador to China by President Barack Obama, succeeding Gary Locke. 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. 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. He previously served in the Montana House of Representatives from 1973 to 1974. On August 9, 2011, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed Baucus to the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. On April 23, 2013, Baucus announced he would retire from the U.S. Senate at the end of his term in 2015. On December 18, 2013, Politico reported that the White House had selected Baucus to be the United States Ambassador to China. On February 6, 2014, Baucus was confirmed by a vote of 96-0 with three Republicans absent and Baucus himself voting "Present". He resigned from his Senate seat on the same day.