(Washington, D.C.) - Montana's senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus said today he supports the bipartisan compromise to avoid default, cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion and deliver certainty to Montana's working families and small businesses by ensuring America can meet its obligations until 2013. 

"This compromise makes sure we can pay our bills now, start cutting spending right away and keep us working down a path to balancing the budget.  It's not the plan that any one of us would have written by ourselves.  Like any compromise, there are things in this deal I support wholeheartedly and other pills that are tougher to swallow.  But right now our number one priority has to be making sure our troops get their paychecks, our seniors get their Social Security checks and our small businesses and working families get the certainty they need to keep our economy moving forward - and that's why I support this compromise," Baucus said.

 The bipartisan compromise to avoid default includes:

• Certainty for Montana's working families, small businesses, seniors, troops and veterans by avoiding default and extending the debt limit to 2013.
• More than $2 trillion in deficit reduction:

1.       Nearly $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts, with no cuts to Social Security or Medicare.

2.       A bipartisan committee tasked to find more than $1.2 trillion in additional deficit reduction by Thanksgiving. 

If the committee fails to produce a plan that reduces the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion, or Congress fails to adopt that plan by the end of the year, there will be automatic, across-the-board spending cuts to nearly every government program to achieve the $1.2 trillion in savings.  Half of those cuts will come from defense and half will come from non-defense, with some exceptions to exempt  essential programs like Social Security, troop pay and veterans benefits.  Medicare savings would be capped at two percent to protect the program for future generations without cutting benefits for seniors.

"Moving forward we've got work to do, and it's so important that we continue working together to get the job done," Baucus said. "We need a balanced approach to a balanced budget, where millionaires and billionaires chip in their fair share, tax cheats cough up money that's being hidden overseas, and we protect Medicare and Social Security to keep our sacred promise to seniors.  As always, my priority will continue to be making sure Montana's small businesses, farmers, working families, seniors and veterans get a fair shake in any deal."

Contact: Kate Downen 406-224-5056/Jenny Donohue 202-224-2651/Kathy Weber 406-657-5915

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