Kent Conrad: “I have already described what my amendment does. I will use the first part of my time to answer the very creative…”

“I have already described what my amendment does. I will use the first part of my time to answer the very creative arguments made by my colleagues on the other side. I have never heard such imaginative arguments on the Senate floor. This is really intriguing. They start out by justifying eliminating the estate tax by an attack on the farm bill, saying the farm bill was over the budget and, therefore, what does it matter if we take another $700 billion out of Social Security in order to eliminate the estate tax. How soon they have forgotten their own votes. They voted for the farm bill budget which they decry. Yes, they did. The farm bill budget was provided for in the last budget resolution. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted aye. They voted for the Republican budget resolution. The Republican budget resolution passed on the floor of the Senate was their resolution. Their colleagues in the House passed exactly the same budget resolution. Do you know what else? Their President proposed a budget with exactly that amount of money in it for the farm bill. I hate to rain on their parade, but they supported the Republican budget resolution that funded the farm bill. That was their budget resolution. That was their proposal. They voted for it. Now they come out here and attack it. They should have been here voting against their own budget resolution because that is what provided the budget for the new farm bill.”