Karen Thurman: “I actually was at a function on Friday night for the Key Training Center, which is for children with mental retardation…”

“I actually was at a function on Friday night for the Key Training Center, which is for children with mental retardation, and I have to tell my colleagues something. I went to a friend of mine who I know is a Republican and is an accountant. I said to him, and I will not mention his name, but I said, tell me what you think about this. I mean I wanted to make sure that I had a clear understanding, because I do have farmers, as the gentleman from North Dakota does, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards); although I do not believe that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) has farmers in his district, and he said, Karen, I do estate planning. He said, they know how to make sure that they are not paying this money. They know how to make sure that that is going to be passed on. Yes, there are a few out there; I think the farmers and the small businesses that we have talked about that have some assets that are based on land and some equipment and some things that are not necessarily done through a paper shuffle, they have some issues, which is why the democratic substitute looked at it and we said, we need to take care of this. Or, in fact, why we raised it and voted for less than 3 years ago in 1997. I mean we raised the estate tax, we did that too, and it was signed by the President in a bipartisan way. So I think that when I talked to this guy and he said, Karen, I think you are right on this. Actually, Karen, I know you are right on this.”