Senate aides said yesterday that estate tax repeal will likely be the third order of business to come up when the Senate returns after the Memorial Day recess. The Senate will vote on full repeal, and after that likely fails, it is Senator Jon Kyl's (R-AZ) intention to bring his "reform" plan up for a vote. His plan is little better than full repeal as it would attain very little of the actual revenue garnered from the estate tax. Take action on this issue! Contact your Senators and tell them to vote no on repeal and no on Kyl's fiscally irresponsible alternative.

The president officially submitted his request for funds for his border security plan to Congress last week. The $1.9 billion is to be included the emergency supplemental spending bill currently being negotiated in Congress. To further complicate an already-antagonistic negotiating process, Bush continues to threaten to veto the bill should it exceed $94.5 - a spending limit imposed by Bush before this $1.9 billion shopping spree. The funds are to be spent by the National Guard and the Department of Homeland Security (in millions): National Guard: $756

President Bush has officially asked Congress to fund his $1.9 billion border security initiative. The $1.9 billion in border security expenses is to be inserted into the supplemental spending bill currently making its way to conference. Incidentally, $1.9 billion is about the same amount of a border security provision that Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH) authored. In fact, even the offsetting funds in both Bush's and Gregg's plans would come from the same line item. Perfect - same amounts, same offsets - so, what's the problem?

Yesterday, we listened to President Bush mislead Americans about the role the 2003 tax cuts played in the economic growth we've seen since 2003. Mr. Bush was not the only administration member misleading Americans. The Wall Street Journal blog, Washington Wire, caught this exchange bewtween Treasury Secretary John Snow Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) during testimony to the House Financial Services Committee on the International Financial System and the Global Economy.