mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume .  mr. speaker , i guess it becomes my job to point out that the republicans are at it again .  another huge tax cut or break for the less than 1 percent of the richest americans while they turn their back and cut medicaid , refuse to recognize that social security is not in crisis but needs some adjustment , cut head start , cut programs for housing , cut programs for the environment , fail to provide the promised benefits to our 140 , 000 servicemen in iraq , turn their back on all that is american to give a few dollars to the very richest of americans .  now , not all republicans are that way .  i find that many of the republicans who have actually worked for a living at some point in their lives , and not just either inherited money or been at the trough of the government , actually oppose this bill .  warren buffett , the gates family , people who have done quite well think that as i do it is a stupid bill and will do nothing for our free enterprise system .  it will stifle creativity and leave us with a system where merit and ability mean nothing and heredity means everything .  $ 300 billion over the next 10 years and perhaps another $ 700 billion over the decade following that are going to be frittered away to a very small number of americans .  with that we could end this talk about privatizing social security that president bush is leading , and we could start shoring up the trust fund .  we could get rid of the doughnut hole in the poorly constructed medicare drug benefit .  we could fulfill the promise that the president and the republicans have ignored for funding no child left behind .  we could eliminate the proposed cuts to medicaid which will hurt the poorest children in this country .  and while we may help a few very rich children with an inheritance , we will cut hundreds of thousands of children 's medicaid benefits .  that could be prevented .  we could cover a large portion of the 45 million people who are without health insurance , i might add 8 million more than when president bush took office .  but republicans obviously do not care about social security or medicare or the uninsured or education or the children .  they only care about tax cuts for the very richest among us .  now , if you eliminate this , you are only going to help probably less than a couple thousand people a year , and they will arguably have by 2009 estates of over $ 7 million .  until now there has not been a family farmer or a small business who has been unable to pass the business on to the next generation .  i might add to my friend from missouri of his people in the lumber business , if their children can not get the first $ 7 million handed to them and then get a 50 percent down payment on the balance of the business and be given 10 years at less than 6 percent to pay off the balance of that , they are probably too dumb and would lose the business in no time at all anyway .  so what the current law allows is so generous , and there have been absolutely no instances , not one , of a family farmer or family business being lost , decimated or put on the auction block because of the estate tax .  in fact , 99.7 percent of all estates would be exempt from the estate tax if we just extend the tax as it applies in 2009 .  they can not show that it harms people .  they can only show that gives billions , $ 300 to almost $ 1 trillion over 20 years , to the very smallest , most select group of rich people in this country .  it is indeed a follow on of the republican mantra , give money to the rich , give it to them in huge amounts and cut back on education , cut back on health care , do not help the environment , cut back on support for our troops and cut back on improving america 's infrastructure , all in the name of helping the few rich who may be contributors to the republican party .  i urge that my colleagues vote `` no '' on the final bill .  i urge that my colleagues vote for the gentleman from north dakota 's ( mr. pomeroy )  who will offer a responsible substitute , which will at least keep the $ 300 billion from being squandered , and it will prevent this bill , which does nothing to help hardworking americans or small businesses , and i hope we can bring some sanity back to the financial code and to the economic future of this country by not passing this bill .  mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time .  