Senator Warren is already more bipartisan and more effective than Scott Brown ever was

[Sirveri]

31. I do, it's a poison pill to stop an estate tax repeal.

SA 693. Mr. WARNER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 8, setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2014, revising the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2013, and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2015 through 2023; as follows:

At the end of title III, add the following:

SEC. 3__. DEFICIT-NEUTRAL RESERVE FUND RELATING TO THE REPEAL OR REDUCTION OF THE ESTATE TAX.

The Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the Senate may revise the allocations of a committee or committees, aggregates, and other appropriate levels in this resolution for one or more bills, joint resolutions, amendments, amendments between the Houses, motions, or conference reports relating to the repeal or reduction of the estate tax, by the amounts provided in such legislation for those purposes, provided that such legislation would not increase the deficit over either the period of the total of fiscal years 2013 through 2018 or the period of the total of fiscal years 2013 through 2023.

So basically they can repeal the estate tax, but only if they do it in a revenue neutral way. Which they can't do unless they cut social welfare programs, the majority of which are wildly popular, or if they cut the military (in which case why should we care?)

I still don't like the idea of cutting the estate tax at all, but we'd at least get them on the record as smashing programs that their constituents actually like.