The Hill: Senate Works on Estate Tax Deal to Grease the Skids for Jobs Bill

[flpoljunkie]

Senate works on estate tax deal to grease the skids for a jobs bill
By Jay Heflin - 02/09/10 06:00 AM ET

Senate leaders are working on an estate tax deal to make it easier to move a bipartisan jobs bill.

The deal discussed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) involves moving an estate tax bill through the Senate that would prevent a huge hike in the tax from taking effect in 2011, staffers and lobbyists say.

For Reid, it could provide crucial Republican votes for the jobs bill in a Senate where Democrats now have only 59 votes. Republicans would get a vote on legislation to stop the estate tax from returning to a historically high level.

The exact nature of the deal is still subject to negotiations, and the final details of a jobs bill are unclear. But the basic deal would involve Republicans providing enough votes on the jobs bill to give it the 60 votes necessary to clear procedural hurdles in exchange for a vote on the estate tax.

The tax is currently repealed, but barring congressional action it returns next year to pre-2001 levels by socking estates worth more than $1 million with a tax that tops out at 55 percent. Republicans and more than a few Democrats oppose this level and prefer rates set in 2009, when estates worth over $3.5 million were taxed at a top rate of 45 percent.

more...

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/80317-senate-works-on-estate-tax-deal-to-grease-the-skids-for-a-jobs-bill

[w4rma]

1. Bad. (nt)

[flpoljunkie]

4. I agree. What R's want is Jon Kyle/Blanche Lincoln's $5 million individual cap and 35% tax rate.

What many Republicans would really like is a vote on a proposal by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that was offered during last year’s budget debate. Their legislation would cap the estate tax at 35 percent on estates worth more than $5 million.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/80317-senate-works-on-estate-tax-deal-to-grease-the-skids-for-a-jobs-bill

[Deep13]

2. Fuck you, Harry. nt

[Captain Hilts]

3. Stop the House of Lords from doing this. nt

[flpoljunkie]

5. Trouble is ten Dem senators voted for the Kyl/Lincoln estate tax amendment.

Question: On the Amendment (Lincoln Amdt. No. 873 )

Vote Number: 146 Vote Date: April 2, 2009, 08:19 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Agreed to
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 873 to S.Con.Res. 13 (No short title on file)
Statement of Purpose: To create a deficit-neutral reserve fund for estate tax relief.

Vote Counts: YEAs 51
NAYs 48

YEAs ---51

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Wicker (R-MS)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00146

[Captain Hilts]

10. That makes me ill. nt

[thunder rising]

6. Wealth ensurance.

[flpoljunkie]

7. More from Think Progress on the Kyl/Lincoln Estate Tax Giveaway

More Than 99% Of The Kyl-Lincoln $250 Billion Estate Tax Giveaway Goes To Wealthy Families

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) have a $250 billion proposal to cut estate taxes for the children of multi-millionaires even more than George W. Bush already did, and it’s attracting a disturbing amount of support.

Their $250 billion proposal would raise the estate tax exemption from $7 million to $10 million per-couple and lower the top rate from 45% to 35%.

While opponents of the estate tax claim rolling it back protects small farms and businesses, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out that “only 0.2 percent of the additional cost of the proposal, relative to , would go toward tax cuts for small businesses and farms.”

The rest of the cost, approximately $249.5 billion, would go to the inheritors of estates worth over $7 million. Paris Hilton, get excited.

Let’s make one thing clear: the estate tax affects a vanishingly small number of American families. Under President Barack Obama’s budget, over 99.7% of people who pass away wouldn’t pay a dime.

Apparently, however, this isn’t enough for some Senators, who would gut revenues needed for investments in health care, education and energy in order to reward the inheritors of massive estates with $249.5 billion.

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/01/kyl-lincoln-estate/

[thunder rising]

8. Lincoln (goood Democrat like her daddy) has got to protect the WalMart babies ya'know.

Every time I heard her say "goooooood Democrat" at the Senate/Prez conference I wanted to puke. It was usually in a sentence to demean the "extremists" in the Democratic party, "The 'goooood' Democrats have to push back against the extremists in our own party. We need protection."

[Pirate Smile]

9. Thank you Massachusetts.

:eyes:

[high density]

11. "only 59 votes"

Yeah, only. As if people elected Democrats to get something done in this country that benefits somebody beyond the war machine, corporations, and the rich.

[NC_Nurse]

12. So their big worry about the jobs bill is spending money we don't have...BUT

they want to cut the money we'll get from the fabulously wealthy to help lessen the deficit.


Makes perfect sense. :eyes:

"We just don't like spending money to help people." That should be their motto.

[flpoljunkie]

13. Your Republican motto really hits the nail on the head.