On Friday, shortly after Bill Frist told Senate Finance Committee members that a vote on a permanent repeal of the estate tax would be held the first day back from August recess, Harry Reid gave his colleague a little advice: “Regardless of how one feels about the estate tax, we should all be able to agree that the Senate’s attention should be on the victims of [the Hurricane Katrina] crisis.”
Yesterday, Frist accepted Reid’s suggestion.
Senate Republicans agreed yesterday to postpone consideration of the bill to fully and permanently repeal the death tax that had been scheduled for this week.
Majority Leader Bill Frist promised to return to the bill as soon as possible but wanted to clear the legislative decks this week — lawmakers’ first after a month’s recess — to consider what could be done to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“The Senate will move from its previously scheduled agenda for Tuesday, September 6, and instead consider a resolution expressing the sympathy of the Senate for the victims of Hurricane Katrina,” he said yesterday.
Occasionally, even those with a tin ear can hear good advice.
Of course, this is a delay, not a cancellation. We can expect to see the issue back on the Senate floor within a few weeks. In light of the costs associated with the disaster on the Gulf Coast, it should be an interesting debate.