On July 28, as the Senate began to move to the small business bill (HR 5297), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) objected to a request by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to allow consideration of several amendments to the bill, including the Lincoln/Kyl motion to permanently phase in a 35% rate and $5 million exemption indexed for inflation. The motion would also require reinstatement of stepped-up basis and an executor “election” to address retroactivity. The Senate is expected to continue consideration of the bill without estate tax reform later today.

We are pleased to report that on July 27 the House sent the Senate version of the war supplemental bill (HR 4899) to the President without the harmful GRAT provision. As you know, Policy and Taxation Group has been advocating for several months to prevent enactment of the GRAT provision and any estate tax revenue raiser in legislation unrelated to estate tax relief.