William H. Frist: “I will yield to Senator Grassley when he comes. I think that I will go ahead and yield myself time on this bill. We have…”

“I will yield to Senator Grassley when he comes. I think that I will go ahead and yield myself time on this bill. We have essentially 30 minutes on either side, of which 15 or 20 minutes of our time will be used by Senator Grassley. We will be voting shortly on what we are calling the Family Prosperity Act. Heretofore, it has been called the trifecta bill because it addresses three different issues that are critically important to the American people. Each of these three bills that have been grouped together to become the Family Prosperity Act are important to hard-working Americans, millions of them. One of the three bills is the permanent tax relief bill. Let me say at the outset that this is a compromise bill that has been put together. We attempted earlier to do something that I strongly believe in, which is totally repealing this unfair and wrongful ``death'' tax. We were unable to do that on the floor of the Senate, and after a lot of discussion between Republicans and Democrats, with the leadership, with Senator Kyl on our side and many Democrats, a bill that is a compromise was put together and is very similar to the bill that is in the Family Prosperity Act. Why is it important? Because this death tax punishes everyday Americans by forcing them to give up their businesses, give up their farms, which their loved ones--dads, moms, and grandparents--have worked hard to pass on to them. It has a direct impact on farming, ranching, construction.…”