The Hill, in an article titled "Senate Works on Estate Tax Deal to Grease the Skids For a Jobs Bill," reports that Senate leaders may use the estate tax as a bargaining chip to advance a new jobs bill. According to the article, Republicans would get a vote on legislation to prevent the estate tax from returning to pre-2001 levels in exhange for crucial votes to pass the jobs bill, which currently has less than 60 votes in the Senate.
Posted by Patrick Siegfried, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
According to the Washington Post, at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/02/max-baucus-charles-grassley-un.html?referrer=emaillink , "Notably, the measure (i.e., Jobs Bill) does not address the estate tax, a legislative priority for many Republicans. But according to Baucus and Grassley, the negotiators agreed not to put off the issue much longer."