Baucus likely to release infrastructure draft in January

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is hoping to release a fifth tax reform draft discussion early next year, this time on infrastructure issues.

A Democratic aide said the draft could come the first full week of January, when Congress next returns to Washington.

{mosads}President Obama officially nominated Baucus on Friday to be the next U.S. ambassador to China. Baucus still has to be confirmed by his current Senate colleagues, but his nomination is not expected to run into trouble.

Still, the release of a fifth discussion draft would show that Baucus is trying to push tax reform forward in what could be his final weeks on Capitol Hill.

His departure is expected to blunt the momentum for a tax overhaul, but Baucus and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) were already facing broad differences between Democrats and Republicans on what a reformed tax code should look like.