Pension Bill Stripped of Estate Tax Provision
The conference committee is supposedly putting the finishing touches on the federal pension bill. One major hurdle has been cleared. Sen. Bill Frist announced today that he will not seek to include language in the bill to cut the estate tax. According to the Associated Press:
The tax provision was one of several that has held up a compromise on the pensions legislation, which is designed to strengthen the employer-based pension plans that some 44 million Americans rely upon for their retirements.
Frist said at a news conference that the estate tax cut ''will not be in the pension conference report.'' He said that ''Olympia Snowe has made it clear that she would not sign the conference report if that were the case.''
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement last week that the Senate would reject a pensions bill with an estate tax cut. ''For over four months American workers, retirees and business have been waiting patiently for the Republican Congress to deliver a pensions bill,'' he said. ''I hope my Republican colleagues will move in a new direction by dropping the estate tax giveaway so we can quickly pass the pensions conference report.''
Click here to read the AP story from the New York Times website.