Kent Conrad: “let me conclude on this matter. First, I thank Senator Kyl. Second, let me make clear, the reason the estate tax is…”

“let me conclude on this matter. First, I thank Senator Kyl. Second, let me make clear, the reason the estate tax is going to run out is because of the Bush tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts, as passed by the Congress, led to this bizarre situation where it is a $3.5 million exemption in 2009, and then it is fully repealed in 2010. Then it goes to $1 million a person in 2011. That was the action of the Republican Congress in conjunction with the Bush administration. They are the ones who created this problem. We adopted, as part of this resolution, the Baucus amendment yesterday that will prevent in 2011 the exemption from falling to $1 million a person and will instead keep it at $3.5 million per person, which means $7 million for a couple can be shielded without paying any taxes. That is indexed for inflation. So just in terms of who did what, the fact is, the Republican Congress is the one that constructed this bizarre circumstance in which the estate tax is repealed in 2010 and then comes back in 2011 with only $1 million per person shielded. Let me conclude by saying this: Look, the problem with this amendment, they say it is a priority, but they have no money to pay for it. The result is that we are faced with a circumstance in which it all gets added to the deficit and the debt. We addressed this in the Baucus amendment yesterday, the problem with the estate tax, but this amendment is not paid for. This amendment will take us back into deficit in 2012.”