The 1-year anniversary of the Katrina disaster is coming up, and the New Republic is featuring the plodding recovery effort in its most recent issue. From the editor's take on it (free registration required):

A consequence of our lazy, no-good, "do-nothing" Congress is that state governments have had to tackle problems that were once the province of the federal government. Massachusetts created a universal health care insurance plan. California just signed a pact with the British to reduce global warming. Lots of states have raised the minimum wage. And so on.

The defeat of the "trifecta" last night bodes well for those opposed to gutting the estate tax. This threat to the long-term fiscal health of the nation, has been staved off - for now. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) voted "Nay" on cloture to reserve to the right to reconsider this bill in September. While passage of an estate tax cut remains highly in doubt, there is a non-zero chance that this zombie legislation will be resurrected by Frist.

In advance of the vote on the "trifecta" estate tax bill in the Senate, which rumors say could be as early as tonight, OMB Watch sent a letter in strong opposition to the bill to the full Senate. Although the vote was originally slated for tomorrow (Friday) morning, there are rumors from the Hill that Sen. Reid (D-NV) may agree to move the vote up to this evening. This is a good sign as it probably indicates Reid is confident he has the votes to sustain a filibuster of the bill. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.