They are completely out of touch with their constituency. Actually, they are completely out of touch with reality.

Heads should roll.

How many of those 31 will directly benefit from the repeal of the estate tax? If our representatives are blatantly voting for their own best interests over those of their constituents, they do not deserve to be representatives.

Very true professor, and I think you hit the nail on the head. It's for personal benefit...

I wasn't that much against the bankruptcy bill. Kind of annoying because it seemed like a waste of congress's time and it was just a bail out for credit card companies so they can continue their poor lending practices.

But the estate tax repeal is crazy. I especially think it's ridculous when the lower middle class Rush nation gets behind it. That just gives me crazy head... I guess it is noble of them, however, to want to pay more taxes so the sons of billionares can live lives of leisure... on some level anyway... too bad they can't afford to help send their own kids to college...

They are completely out of touch with their constituency

More and more I find that the constituency is completely out of touch with the reality of the policy.
They don't understand that the politician they support is passing laws that are contrary to their interest.

I wonder how Steve King & Jim Leach, both Republicans, one of the Neanderthal sub-species (King), defend their votes for these bills when their districts have the 9 poorest counties in the state?

I'd like to pick on Boswell, who used to represent Southern Iowa, (including his native Ringgold and Decatur counties, 2 of the poorest), but his district was gerrymandered in 2000 to an area more affluent.

Maybe they thought that the money would better serve economic growth if it was spent by the people who own it, rather than confiscated by the government via the death tax.

Stuff it Muck, the drivel won't work here.

More to the point, what is the median family income of the 31 Democrats who voted for this measure?

People tend to look at our representative's votes in political terms. But often I think it just comes down to raw selfish personal interest.

Most Democrats in Congress are quite rich by the average Joe's standards. They may be voting for this bill simply because they see it as saving them and their families a lot of cash in the future.

Yeah Muck, I guess it is better to tax workers more than it is to tax rich heirs. The money has to come from somewhere. If it gets cut somewhere it has to go up somewhere. Or spending needs to be cut. And they aren't going to cut millitary funding in this era...

What is the cap now anyway? $1.5 to increase to $3 million? That's enough to pass along tax free to your heirs.

Oh well, hopefully a national sales tax won't get passed...

I am surprised at how ignorant and uniformed the public is regarding the estate tax. When my father passed away, there was about 200K left to be divided between my brother and me. My brother (who votes Republican, I think because of guns and because he's now a father and thinks that is what fathers do....not that I understand that) was self-congratulatory about this, saying that because of Bush we wouldn't have to pay the estate tax, etc. He had absolutely no concept of the difference in what the estate tax was versus the inheritance tax. When I explained the difference between the two and pointed out the estate tax limits, etc. he still seemed to think that Bush's plan was a good one even though he will never benefit from it. Just another example of the middle class voting against their own self-interest. I guess my brother hasn't figured out that lower taxes for the wealthy will eventually mean higher taxes (or reduced services, such as homeland security) for him and a huge burden of national debt for his children to pay off.

"I guess my brother hasn't figured out that lower taxes for the wealthy will eventually mean higher taxes (or reduced services, such as homeland security) for him and a huge burden of national debt for his children to pay off."

Ann, it ain't just your brother. Americans are idiots, true, the media never explains these very basic points encompassing the issues of the day so mistakes like the one made by your brother are never corrected. It also doesn't help when the right-wing media (radio, etc.) flat-out lies about the issues. It is hard to educate someone when they get their news from Rush and Fox.