I can't figure out why most people are happy to let Congress kill the estate tax. Maybe Diane Lim Rogers, Research Director for Budgeting for National Priorities, has the answer. She says many members of Congress have taken to referring to the estate tax as the "death tax," implying that, like death, it is a tax that looms for all Americans.

Van Jones, head of the Ella Baker Center which works for juvenile justice reform in California, writes:

World-famous environmental heroine Julia Butterfly Hill has climbed

If you're wondering how the House majority justified cutting back on funding for key family supports while giving wealthy investors even more tax breaks in its just-approved (218-210) budget blueprint, here's a clue. If you're a family of two making $40,000 you don't get a tax cut because you don't pay any taxes.

The Coalition on Human Needs says the House of Representatives may vote today, May 17, on their budget blueprint, but the House leadership is not sure they have the votes. Moderates are under intense pressure to abandon their call for $3 billion more in order to prevent cuts in education, health and other services -- cuts that could affect energy assistance, K-12 and higher education, child care, job training, services to protect children from abuse or neglect, Head Start and more.

Ask Congressional leaders what we need to keep the economy strong and they'll say more tax cuts for investors. Whatever happened to the idea that we need a well-educated workforce to keep the economy strong?

Congress has just approved a costly tax package with billions of dollars in more tax cuts for investors. Congressional leaders say this is really a boon for the common man (who can expect some $20 to $50 from the deal) because it will grow the economy.

The Institute of Library and Museum Services and the National Endowment for the Arts' new "Big Read" initiative will award grants generally ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 to more than 100 communities for programs that encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.

Instead of budgeting for more child care subsidies needed by working families or expanding health care coverage, Congress is hard at work on a tax package that gives the wealthiest households the bulk of new tax cuts. House and Senate Republicans have worked out which tax cuts will be included in the tax reconciliation package, a process that is filibuster-proof in the Senate.

Congress returns to DC this week. First up will be more budget negotiations to try to get a budget blueprint that can pass the House. But many advocates for children and families argue that no budget blueprint is better than one that favors tax cuts over investing in improving schools, health care and access to college.

An article in USA Today says researchers disagree on the data on the dropout crisis.

A researcher who should know better is hyping his report by asking "what dropout crisis?"