Full article:
http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/08/03/call-your-senators-now-to-kill-estate-tax-giveaway-to-the-rich/Legislation & Politics, Bush & Co.
Aug 3
Call Your Senators NOW to Kill Estate Tax Giveaway to the Rich
We now have word the Senate will vote tonight on the millionaires’ estate tax cut package that poisons a minimum wage increase and would cut pay for tipped workers in seven states.
The poison-pill laden legislation just can’t stand the light of day. Republican House leaders, who crafted the package, muscled it through that chamber at 1:30 a.m. July 29.
In legislative jargon, the vote tonight will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed—in other words, shutting off Democratic debate on the bill and moving it to a final vote. It takes 60 votes to win cloture.
Call your U.S. senators at 202-224-3121 (that’s the Capitol switchboard number and they will connect you to your senators’ offices). Tell them to oppose cloture on the motion to proceed. Tell them that you want the Senate to vote on a minimum wage increase of $2.10 an hour without any poison pills such as the estate tax and pay cuts for tipped workers.
The bill combines a minimum wage increase with a $753 billion cut in estate taxes. It completely eliminates the tax on estates of up to $10 million and slashes the tax rates for even larger multimillion-dollar families. Some of the nation’s richest families, including Wal-Mart’s Walton gang, are behind the estate tax campaign.