Estate Tax Showdown Is Splitting the G.O.P. - New York Times

Estate Tax Showdown Is Splitting the G.O.P. - New York Times: "But Senate leaders, vowing to schedule a vote for full repeal on Thursday, have yet to line up the 60 votes they need to prevent a Democratic filibuster. Indeed, with public approval ratings declining for Mr. Bush and the Republicans, party leaders face at least as much opposition from Democrats today as they did last summer.

In what is either a shrewd game of chicken or an effort to inflame the passions of crucial Republican constituencies, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, has made little effort to strike a compromise with conservative Democrats that would greatly reduce but not fully abolish the tax.

'Senator Frist is for full repeal, first and foremost,' a spokeswoman for Mr. Frist, Carolyn Weyforth, said. 'Until we've had the cloture vote, any talk of a compromise is premature.'

The strategy has divided Republicans. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters on Monday that the Senate could easily pass a bill that eliminated the estate tax for all but a tiny slice of the nation's richest families."