Senate Bill to Make Estate Tax Repeal Permanent Fails

The following excerpts are from Edmund L. Andrews, G.O.P. Fails in Attempt to Repeal Estate Tax, NY Times, June 9, 2006:

Senate Republicans failed on Thursday to muster the votes needed to abolish the estate tax on inherited wealth, but supporters of a compromise held out hope for a deal this year that could attract enough Democrats to pass.

Voting 57 to 41, with only a few lawmakers crossing party lines, the Senate was three votes short of the number needed to end debate on the bill, dooming it on procedural grounds. The vote all but killed hopes at the White House and among Republicans on Capitol Hill of eliminating the tax on large estates, which under current law would be phased out by 2010 but would return in 2011.