Byron Dorgan: “one of the things Americans like least about Congress is the way we wrangle over things we don't agree about instead of…”

“one of the things Americans like least about Congress is the way we wrangle over things we don't agree about instead of acting on things we can agree about. The estate tax is a case in point. There is wide agreement in the Senate that we should act to eliminate the burden of the estate tax on family farms and businesses. We could accomplish that this year--this week in fact--with little fuss or ado. I propose that we do just that, and save for later the parts of the estate tax that we don't agree on. We should not hold the family farms and businesses of this nation hostage to the heirs of multi-billion-dollar investment fortunes. We can address that problem right now so let's do it. We often forget in this country that a family is an economic unit as well as a social unit. This nation was built upon an economy of family-based farms and businesses. That is why the values of family--a commitment to community, a loyalty to place, a sense of tradition passing through the generations--were an important part of the economy in the formative days of our republic. Those values weakened as the economy became national and corporate. They have weakened further still as the economy has become global, and the cold calculus of the global marketplace has displaced considerations of family and community in our economic life. In this setting it is crucial that we strive to keep the family farms and businesses that we have, and to encourage new ones.”