More important that helping the starving people of New Orleans

What is fundraising to Dennis Hastert:

Republican Congressman and Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert who set off a firestorm on Thursday when he questioned the need to rebuild New Orleans might be making another major bonehead decision.

The legislation passed by the U.S. Senate of 10.5 billion to rebuild the Gulf Coast and New Orleans is moving to the House. Guess who will not be there when the vote occurs? Dennis Hastert. He will be at a fundraiser.

Ridiculous. Especially since he wants credit for the whole thing.

*UDPATE* What is exempting the very wealthy from paying taxes to Bill Frist:

Senate Finance Committee members were informed this morning that Sen. Bill Frist will move forward with a vote to permanently repeal the estate tax next week, likely on Tuesday, ThinkProgress has learned.

One stands in awe of Sen. Frist’s timing. Permanently repealing the estate tax would be a major blow to the nation’s charities. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has “found that the estate tax encourages wealthy individuals to donate considerably more to charity, since estate tax liability is reduced through donations made both during life and at death.” If there were no estate tax in 2000, for example, “charitable donations would have been between $13 billion to $25 billion lower than they actually were.”

I actually heard this mentioned on one of the news networks as I left work today. My jaw about hit the floor.