The House voted June 18 to permanently repeal the estate tax, but the legislation faces tough opposition in the Senate.

The repeal was included in a larger tax bill that would reduce revenue by $162 billion over the next 10 years. It passed 264-163.

The tax bill passed in 2001 phases out the estate tax by 2010, but it would be reinstated in 2011 unless Congress makes the repeal permanent.

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The House voted June 19 to permit association health plans, but that bill also faces rough sledding in the Senate.

The House vote was 262-162.

The bill permits only established trade associations to manage the plans. It also says all businesses belonging to the association would be eligible for coverage and no eligible worker could be denied coverage.

In a speech in Minnesota the same day, President Bush urged the Senate to act “for the sake of affordable health care for the employees of small businesses all across this country.”

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The Small Business Administration has announced sourcing competitions for temporary disaster assistance workers.

SBA currently has a stand-by roster of hundreds of people who are on call to provide services to disaster victims, said Herbert Mitchell, associate administrator for disaster assistance. The competitions will determine whether to hire a private staffing firm to take over those functions.

The competitions are small business set-asides under GSA Schedule 763 99, “Temporary Administrative and Professional Staffing Services.”

The clerical services announcement is solicitation number 3700050Q0031; the customer service representative announcement is number 3700050Q0032. The mailroom services announcement is 3700050Q0030. They were posted June 23 on FedBizOpps.

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The House passed legislation June 24 that would give SBA’s Office of Advocacy a protected line item in the president’s budget and create a new principal deputy chief counsel. The bill, H.R. 1772, authorizes a larger budget for the Office of Advocacy to hire more staff.

The office is charged with monitoring the impact of federal regulations on small firms.

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GSA’s Hardware Superstore has awarded a schedule contract to Home Depot for building, repair and maintenance products.

The contract is worth up to $75 million over five years and will allow government employees to shop at Home Depot stores nationwide.