A successful nonprofit briefing on the estate tax was held on June 6. A press briefing to release the results of a nationwide poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research will be held Wednesday, June 12.

In an effort to re-emphasize their dogged commitment to tax breaks for the very wealthy, House Republicans announced last week that they would bring up the issue of permanent estate tax repeal for a vote shortly after they return from their Memorial Day recess - on June 5 or 6.

Before adjourning for its week-long Memorial Day recess, the House passed the President's emergency supplemental appropriations bill on May 24, in a 280-138 vote. Supplemental appropriations bills, such as this one, are common tools to bridge the gap between one fiscal year's appropriations and the next. This $29.6 billion supplemental, $2 billion more than the President's initial $27.1 billion request, will provide added funding for this fiscal year, which ends September 30.

The "super-waiver" has made its way through both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. The two bills will have to be joined in the Rules Committee and will likely be on the House floor the week of May 13. The current list of programs eligible for the super-waiver remains small but significant -- CCDBG, TANF, SSBG, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Wagner-Peyser (Employment Services), and the Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals program ? and it is possible that other programs could be added.