Chuck Grassley: “I will take a couple minutes, and then I believe we are done. To respond in a short fashion to what the Senator from…”

“I will take a couple minutes, and then I believe we are done. To respond in a short fashion to what the Senator from Florida said, we have 14 States that have a separate inheritance tax. In addition, the tax due to the State will continue to be paid through the year 2007. The repeal basically happens because we increase the unified credit so rapidly, and this is a direct result of the American taxpayers having spoken by the thousands that they want immediate relief. The President of the United States in his proposal did his death tax repeal with $260 billion. The bill before us does it with $145 billion. The President does not increase the unified credit. So, yes, his plan is a proportionate reduction, but the Senate and the taxpayers wanted immediate relief, and that is why we end up where we are. Obviously, there are problems for some Senators. I respect their objection, but we did it in the best way we could in a compromising fashion, trying to do as much as we could with a lesser amount of money than what the President was trying to do in his tax program, and do it in a bipartisan fashion.”