Frist is getting desperate

Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist was hoping to end his last term as a U.S. Senator in a way that would put him in the best position possible to run for president in 2008.  His agenda included immigration, gay marriage, flag burning and the estate tax.  As of this moment, he is 0 for 3 -- following yesterday's defeat of a constitutional amendment against flag burning, which failed by one vote.

With the estate tax repeal the only thing left on his agenda, Frist knows that he had better get this one through.  The vote was supposed to take place yesterday, until Senate Majority Leader Frist realized that he did not have the necessary votes.  He is now looking for support among some Democrats to get the 60 votes that are needed:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Fristpostponed a vote on a measure to exempt most multimillionairesfrom federal estate taxes after conceding Republicans lack thevotes to pass legislation adopted by the House last week.                

The delay is the third since Frist began his quest to repealor reduce the tax last year and the second time this month hisambitions were thwarted by Democrats who say the government needsthe revenue generated by the tax. The House passed thelegislation 269-156 on June 22 after Frist urged it to act beforethe Independence Day recess next week.

``The Senate will vote on a permanent reduction to thistax,'' Frist said in a statement. ``The vast majority of myDemocratic colleagues have so far refused to address this issue;it's my hope that their constituents will use the upcoming recessto explain the importance of supporting a reasonable andpermanent solution to this unfair tax.''

Actually, their constituents are wondering about the skyrocketing National Debt, which is nothing more than a birth tax on young and unborn Americans.  Repealing this tax on multimillionaires will add $1 trillion to the National Debt over the next ten years.  Maybe we should do our children and our children's children a favor by not adding to it.  Just a thought.

It is still unknown whether Democratic Senators will cave in and support Frist's legislation to repeal the estate tax.  If they do, you can bet that they will be exposed.

Just a side note: Warren Buffet, who announced that he will be donating $30 billion to the Bill Gates charity, said yesterday that a repeal of the estate tax would be offensive to the American tradition of meritocracy.

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Other blogs writing about this: Vox Verax, Jarrett House North, J-Dub!, Paul Krugman Archive.