Evan Bayh: “I rise to support our amendment because it not only provides for substantial estate tax relief, but it also provides for…”

“I rise to support our amendment because it not only provides for substantial estate tax relief, but it also provides for substantial tax cuts for millions of American families, in providing for long-term care for sick and elderly dependents, and also provides for important tax relief for millions of American families who work hard, play by the rules, are self-employed, but struggle to meet the costs of health insurance. I express my appreciation to my colleagues, Senator Durbin, Senator Feingold, and others, for their leadership in bringing us to this point, and for their support of these critical and important steps. I want to make clear that I strongly support the cause of providing for estate tax relief. That is why I am delighted to say that our approach provides, when fully implemented, that 99.3 percent of the American people--99.3 percent--will be entirely exempt from any estate taxes in our country. This means that fully 95 percent of farms that would currently be subject to the estate tax have their estate tax liability eliminated entirely, and 75 percent of small businesses currently subject to the estate tax will have their estate tax liability eliminated entirely.”