House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) spoke about the estate tax yesterday, saying that he would be willing to settle for less than full repeal of the estate tax. "If in fact you're not able to repeal it, the next best thing is certainty," he said. Thomas also pointed out that his reconciliation tax package may fall well below the $70 billion mark recently laid out in the Congressional budget resolution. $70 billion is the amount the Senate decided upon in their budget plan; the House had settled on a much lower figure of $45 billion. Thomas once again called the tax reconciliation numbers "a ceiling."