Estate Tax, Wage Hike
Teetering In Senate
Time Running Out for Action
By Jonathan Weisman and Charles Babington
Washington Post
Staff Writers
Sunday, July 30, 2006; A01
The House completed its summer work in a flurry of post-midnight debates and
votes yesterday, approving changes to the federal minimum wage, estate taxes and
pension laws. But with deep divisions lurking in the Senate, it all may go for
naught, as have so many other recent efforts, leaving the two chambers open to
perhaps the loudest taunts of "do-nothing Congress" in decades.
Despite their control of the House, Senate and White House, Republicans have
been unable to reach accord on immigration, lobbying reform, military tribunals,
Social Security and even nuts-and-bolts measures such as a 2007 budget plan.
Lawmakers still have time to pass some of that legislation, but not much.
House members left town yesterday for the August recess, and senators are
expected to follow suit in a few days. When both chambers reconvene after Labor
Day, they will have 15 scheduled work days before their planned final
adjournment for the fall elections.
Democrats have poked fun at the GOP-run Congress's long weekends and frequent
recesses before, but the "do-nothing" jibes may carry more sting as November
balloting nears. Republicans face their lowest approval ratings in a decade, and
Democrats feel they are close to retaking the House -- and conceivably the
Senate -- in the midterm elections.
"I think people care, and they should care," said Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.), an embattled Republican who so far
has failed to secure his top legislative priority -- strong controls on
lobbying. "I just hope people understand that things have become so partisan
around here that the best thing we can do is get this election out of the way
and come back to work."
Republican leaders shrug off the "do-nothing" charge. "You get used to
hearing that nonsense," said House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). As for beating the 1948 Congress's
record for lethargy, he joked, "Most Americans will be pretty happy with
that."
The weekend's flurry of House action may give Republicans some midsummer
bragging rights, but it's far from clear that the Senate will go along. The
House voted to boost the nation's minimum wage for the first time in nine years,
slash the estate tax permanently and extend several business tax breaks. It also
voted 279 to 131 to approve the most sweeping overhaul of the nation's pension
laws in 30 years.
Those measures face deep uncertainty in the Senate this week, where
maneuvering by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has alienated several committee chairmen and
triggered Democratic accusations of cynicism. Given senators' ability to thwart
legislation more easily than House members, the discontent could prove
fatal.
The House, at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday, voted 230 to 180 to raise the
minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, from the $5.15 rate on the books since 1997. The
bill also would exempt from taxation all estates worth as much as $5 million --
or $10 million for a married couple -- and apply a 15 percent tax rate to
inheritances above that threshold and as much as $25 million. For estates
exceeding $25 million in value, the tax rate would be 30 percent.
Most congressional Republicans support the estate-tax cuts and oppose the
minimum wage increase. Most Democrats take the opposite positions. Democrats
said they saw a two-edged strategy in the GOP decision to couple the issues.
Democrats' eagerness to raise the minimum wage might attract enough support
in the Senate as well as the House to pass the estate-tax cut, a major GOP goal.
But if Senate Democrats block the bill because of their aversion to the
estate-tax cut -- as their leaders have vowed to do -- House Republicans may at
least be able to blunt Democratic accusations that they made no effort to help
the working poor.
Frist, who will retire this year and possibly run for president, faces a huge
challenge this week in trying to soothe hurt feelings, minimize Democratic
opposition and steer the tax, wage and pension legislation to passage with no
changes that would force a return to the House. A heart surgeon who had
comparatively light legislative experience when President Bush helped elevate
him to the majority leader's post, Frist gambled by agreeing with House leaders
to strip some popular business tax extensions from the pension bill and add them
to the proposed estate-tax cut, a Frist priority.
The move infuriated Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), who had spent months seeking a compromise
centered in part on the tax extensions. Frist thanked the two senators in a
statement yesterday "for working hard to address the pensions issue," but he
said that an impasse between House and Senate conferees forced him to try a
different tack.
Aides to Frist said they believe they will prevail on a crucial vote (perhaps
later this week) needed to overcome the Democrats' promised filibuster of the
minimum wage-estate-tax bill. Backers will need 60 votes in the 100-member
Senate to proceed. Republicans hold 55 seats. Even if a filibuster is overcome,
the bill might be amended, forcing new negotiations with the House.
Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) "is confident the Senate will
defeat this fiscally irresponsible estate-tax proposal, as we have in the past,"
said his spokesman, Jim Manley.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said in a statement, "Republicans
are playing politics with the lives of hardworking people. . . . It's political
blackmail to say the only way that minimum wage workers can get a raise is to
give tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans."
Frist used the term "death tax" for the estate levy in his statement, but
made no direct mention of the minimum wage increase. This week, "the Senate will
test whether or not there is enough support among its members to reform the
unfair death tax," he said.
If the House sticks to its schedule, it will have worked 84 days this year
when votes were scheduled, 26 fewer than the Congress that President Harry S.
Truman labeled "do-nothing" during his come-from-behind 1948 campaign. Indeed,
in 31 of the past 40 sessions of Congress, the House met more days before the
July 4 break than the current House is scheduled to meet before the November
election, Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said.
The year started with the guilty plea of former Republican lobbyist Jack
Abramoff and vows from congressional leaders to rein in lobbyists' influence by
spring. Two deadlines have passed, and House-Senate negotiators appear unable to
complete a bill.
The House passed immigration legislation in December, promising to get a bill
to Bush's desk that would seal the borders and crack down on undocumented
workers. The Senate passed a much different bill this year, and formal
negotiations between the two chambers have not begun. All legislation dies when
this Congress adjourns.
An Arab-government-owned company's purchase of operations at six major U.S.
ports produced a political firestorm in February, but promised port security
bills have yet to reach the president. House and Senate negotiators did not even
try to reconcile their differences on a budget blueprint governing spending
levels and tax policy.
Nor, so far, has Congress taken up the Supreme Court's invitation to pass
legislation creating military tribunals to try terrorism suspects, a step
necessary to make such tribunals constitutional.
"The do-nothing Congress got that moniker not for the days it met but for the
lack of work it did," Hoyer said. "If this Republican Congress addressed
health-care issues, the minimum wage, lobbying reform and energy independence,
and did it all in 10 days, the American people would say, 'That's great.' But
they're not doing anything."
? 2006 The
Washington Post Company