Bill Nelson: “we have a saying in the South: being between the devil and the deep blue sea. That somewhat illustrates the position…”

“we have a saying in the South: being between the devil and the deep blue sea. That somewhat illustrates the position this Senator is in regarding the estate tax, for this Senator has been a sponsor of the elimination of the estate tax for the last 7 years. The problem--as I have conferred with colleagues here, including the Senator from North Dakota, as well as colleagues on the other side--is finding the 60 votes out of 100 Senators in order to be able to pass some form of estate tax relief. The fact is we have Senators who are all over the lot. There are some Senators who don't want to have any estate tax relief, and there are others on the opposite side of the spectrum who think there should be a total abolition of the estate tax and nothing short of that is any good. Well, the truth is, if we had been able to eliminate the estate tax back in 2001, when the Federal Government had a healthy surplus, we would not be facing what we are today, which is trying to eliminate the estate tax, or part of it, when we have a drastic shortage of revenue, the consequences of which keep running up the red ink of the Federal Government and continued deficit financing. Of course, you know who is buying our debt: the banks in China and Japan.”