All Eyes on Bob Corker
WASHINGTON - Public Feud between President Trump and Republican Senator, Bob Corker over the weekend now puts the tax reform bill at risk of not being passed due to Corker’s importance toward the tax reform debate.
Over the weekend, President Trump tweeted that Senator Bob Corker is a “negative force”, and rejected to endorse Corker for the midterm election when Corker “begged” for it. Corker then responded stating that, “the White House has become an adult day care center.” And told the New York Times that Trump is at high risk of setting up the country for “World War Three.”
This puts the tax reform bill at risk of not being passed due to the republican’s slim 52-48 majority in the Senate. The majority of democrats have opposed the plan and republicans cannot lose support of more than two lawmakers of their own party. Despite Corker being a foreign policy specialist, he plays a very important role toward the tax reform debate. He has so far helped the Senate move closer to legislation by agreeing to a budget resolution that would allow tax reforms to reduce government revenue by up to $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
Corker has further decided against seeking re-election for the midterms, this gives him the chance to vote which way he wants without having to gain support of being re-elected in midterm. He has so far vowed not to vote for the recent tax package released on September 27th due to adding more to the federal deficit.
The tax reform’s push to be passed has been slowed down due to delays and distractions due to Trump’s criticisms of his own party leaders like Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Divisions have also emerged over proposals to repeal the federal inheritance tax and deductions from state and local taxes. On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan told the crowd at a Heritage Foundation event that, “We’re going to keep people here for Christmas if we have to. I don’t care. We have to get this done.” This further shows Republicans desperate need to pass this bill.
Despite the recent feud with one of the most important lawmakers in the Senate, President Trump dismisses any concerns of this feud hindering any progress for the bill. Stating that a new version of the tax reform plan will be released in the coming weeks and will deliver a successful tax reform by January.
Trump talks about the upcoming bill stating, “People want to see tax cuts, they want to see major reductions in their taxes, and they want to see tax reform — and that's what we're doing, and we'll be adjusting a little bit over the next few weeks to make it even stronger. But I will tell you that it's become very, very popular." Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist, believes that most republicans senators will support the bill despite concerns over Trump’s treatment of their colleagues. This is due to most not retiring therefore needing to working with the White House and answer to potential voters for next year’s midterm election.
