>BTW if the GOP takes over the Senate, they will have control of the rules
>and should be able to find a way to repeal the estate tax with a simple
>majority, avoiding a Dem filibuster.
-Via the "reconciliation" process, you mean? Do you think it's time -for the Senate to change its rules to eliminate "reconciliation"?
The tax bill was passed last year by majority vote because it was scheduled as part of the budget process, which under the 1974 Budget Act disallows filibusters. The GOP went for the ten year phaseout partly because it made the budget numbers smaller, although I believe their was a bizarre rule (created by Byrd way back) that required a ten-year sunset on certain laws.
My assumption, given the bizarities of Senate rules, that there is probably some way under the budget process to make the tax cut permanent, without the Byrd rule and without a filibuster. I hope I'm wrong, but at best the GOP would be forced to extend the estate tax another year each year.
-- Nathan Newman