A Weekly e-Newsletter from
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)

June 9, 2006

Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, our nation and the world celebrated the 62^nd anniversary of D-Day.  At the Metro Atlanta Rotary Club and on Tuesday on the Senate floor, I spoke on my recent trip to visit the American cemeteries and battlefield monuments located in Europe and in the North African nation of Tunisia.  I was extremely moved by the outpouring of love and respect our country and our servicemen received in the Netherlands, in Belgium, at Belleau Wood outside of Paris and at the American Cemetery of Northern Africa.  I think it is appropriate for us to memorialize what those of us who traveled on this trip saw, and inspire all members of the Senate and hopefully all Americans at one point in their lives to travel to these marvelous memorials. I’m going to see to it that my children and grandchildren get to visit this scene and have this experience. Only through the preservation of the memory of what those men fought and died for will we as Americans ever be able to continue to make the commitments we have around the world to preserve liberty and preserve democracy.  The Congressional delegation was led by U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) joined me and Senator Craig on the trip. 

The United States Iraq and all peace-loving people won a great victory this week with the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.  I am very pleased and very proud of our military and very proud that the human intelligence we’re getting has led to such a significant accomplishment.  The President has remained resilient and the Congress by and large has remained resilient. We’ve remained committed to the task. These terrorists are realizing that we’re there for the long haul, and we’re there to see to it that terrorism is eradicated.

Unfortunately, this week the Senate refused to proceed with debate and allow an up-or-down vote on permanently repealing the estate tax, also known as the “death tax.”  We charge people income tax when they earn income. With what is left they make investments, and then as those investments pay dividends or pay income, we tax that. Then we say when you die we want half of that asset.  It is wrong. It is wrong for individuals. It is wrong for family farmers. It is wrong for landowners, and it is wrong for America.  A full repeal of the estate tax will let our hard-working taxpayers pass along their savings to their children and grandchildren tax-free.  I will continue to do everything I can to see that we take action and repeal the death tax permanently.

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson