http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=mktw&guid=%7B59ECD92B%2D6F9E%2D48F9%2D9386%2D3C041BF83F17%7D&symbol=WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Unable to attract enough votes to overcome a procedural hurdle, Senate Republicans chose Tuesday to put off an effort to permanently reduce the estate tax until after the weeklong Independence Day recess.
"The vast majority of my Democratic colleagues have so far refused to address this issue. It's my hope that their constituents will use the upcoming recess to explain the importance of supporting a reasonable and permanent solution to this unfair tax," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who had previously promised a vote on the measure before the break.
Frist needs 60 votes to allow formal debate to begin on the measure, which is projected to reduce tax revenues by around $283 billion over 10 years.
Democrats blasted the measure as a giveaway to a handful of wealthy families that would put a hole in the federal budget.
"This is not an issue we should be dealing with. We're all willing, at the right time, to take a look at estate tax, but this is not the time to do it when we have red ink that is burying this country," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
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