(Washington, D.C.) – Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus today cast his 11,000th vote as a member of the United States Senate. Baucus is the longest serving U.S. Senator from Montana and only the 22nd senator in U.S. history to reach the 11,000 vote mark.

“I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Baucus told colleagues before the vote. “I think this is the best job that one could have. I have 900,000 of the world’s greatest bosses, the people of Montana. They’re terrific. They’re wonderful. I’m just the hired hand working for them.”

Baucus’ vote, on an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, was acknowledged today by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

“Senator Baucus is from the fourth-largest state in the union.  But he has walked the entire length of Montana – all 820 miles of it – to talk to the men and women on whose behalf he has cast each of those 11,000 votes,” Reid told fellow senators.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) echoed the leader’s sentiments.

“Senator Baucus has given the people of Montana more than three decades of dedicated service. He kept his pledge to put Montana first and I want to join the Majority Leader in congratulating him on his 11,000th vote.”

“He is a lucky guy,” Montana Senator Jon Tester said. “But he creates luck with a lot of hard work. He works very hard for the people of the state of Montana and the country.”

Baucus was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978, where he has served consecutively ever since. Baucus is the sixth most senior Senator serving in the U.S. Senate, today.

Baucus serves on three Senate committees. He is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, currently leading the charge for health care reform. He is also a senior member of the Senate Agriculture, the Environment and Public Works Committees and the Joint Committee on Taxation.