The New York Times ran an editorial on Saturday, "Katrina's Assault on Washington," which highlighted the fact that our political leaders are often more interested in promoting an agenda full of tax cuts than in promoting responsible investment and shared national sacrifice. This approach, the editorial argues, must change. The editorial says, "If [political leaders] respond by passing a few emergency measures and then falling back on their plan to enact more tax cuts, America will have to confront the fact that it is stuck with leaders who neither know, nor care, how to lead." The recent disaster should be a wake-up call that it pays to invest money in our communities. This administration's focus on tax cuts over investment has left agencies and programs underfunded, and has, in a way, made it more difficult for us to respond to the what has happened on the Gulf Coast. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities expands upon this in their recent statement on the challanges Congress faces now in the wake of the hurricane.

Congress Daily reported this afternoon that despite the devastation with this week's hurricane and flooding, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) plans to go ahead with the Congressional schedule as previously planned, which means that there will be a vote on the estate tax on Tuesday. According to Congress Daily, Frist rejected a request from Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to suspend work on the tax bill. The Senate will, therefore, move forward with their vote to repeal the estate tax. Repeal of the estate tax would gut levels of federal revenue and would hurt charities by taking away an incentive for people to give. It seems as though in a time of national devastation -- as we are experiencing right now -- it is awfully bold of Frist and Congressional leaders to move ahead with legislation that would take more money away from federal coffers (which is used to invest in national infrastructure), and instead make a move to further pad the pockets of the wealthy. Disgraceful. Sen. Baucus (D-MT), who has been the Democrats' key negotiator on the estate tax, issued the following statement regarding the vote: “I am supportive of working on repealing the estate tax, but now is not the appropriate time. The nation is calling out for the Senate to act to help those in need. We have passed an emergency spending bill, but the emergency has not subsided. People are still homeless. New Orleans is still buried in dark water. Our work is not finished. Instead of moving to the estate tax when the Senate is back in session, I encourage my colleagues to concentrate on the victims left in Hurricane Katrina’s wake.”

Congress is more likely to act on pension reform than social security reform this year, according to today's BNA: "Congress ultimately may fail to find accord on Social Security reforms and instead pass more targeted pension reform legislation when it returns from its summer recess, sources who follow the issue told BNA Aug. 31." Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Choice, told BNA Aug. 31 that Congress is likely to pass a pension bill, even if it fails to muster support for Social Security changes. "You could get a decent pension bill regardless of what happens with Social Security," Tanner said. Jason Furman, a senior fellow with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, rarely agrees with Tanner, a proponent of Social Security payroll tax-financed individual investment accounts. But Furman also said he expected Congress to act on pensions. "Something on the defined benefit [pension plan] side has to happen," Furman told BNA Aug. 31. Furman said he anticipated that Congress would feel compelled to pass provisions aimed at strengthening the funding of defined benefit pension plans and measures aimed at bolstering the federal pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. "On Social Security, it is extremely unlikely that anything will be enacted by Congress. What the Republicans are trying to do is retreat from this issue," Furman said.

The USAction Education Fund released a report today; Setting the Right Priorities: Why We Can't Afford Repeal or Drastic Reduction of the Federal Estate Tax. The report finds that repeal or drastic reduction of the estate tax only benefits a small group of multimillionaires, while middle- and lower-income families will suffer from budget cuts to education, environmental protection, community development, health care, and other programs. The report notably points out that the loss in revenue we would see in one year if one of Sen. Kyl's (R-AZ) proposals were enacted could "alternatively be used to make up for the entire set of budget cuts proposed to agriculture, community development, Medicaid, transportation, veterans benefits services, income security, health, environmental protection, education, training, employment and social services in 2010."