That is the headline of this story just out. Bob Corker denies Quid Pro Quo had anything to do with his abrupt change of heart regarding the Trump-Gop Tax Bill.
Reported by Josh Keefe | 3 hrs ago @ IBT | December 16th, 2017
Corker’s vote is considered pivotal in the closely divided Senate and he could be in a position to make or break the landmark legislation.
He declared his support for the final reconciled version of the bill on Friday after GOP lawmakers added a provision that could benefit his vast real estate holdings -- a provision that Corker denied having any knowledge of.
Not too long ago Bob Corker (R) vowed a no vote if the republican TaxScam added to the deficit:
[Corker} who promised not to cast a vote for “one penny’s worth of deficits" in a new tax plan.
That changed since this latest “provision" was added to the Bill:
The provision was not included in the bills that originally passed the House and Senate.
Corker previously said he opposed the legislation because he was concerned about it increasing the deficit, but on Friday he announced he would support it -- even though Congress’s own Joint Committee on Taxation projects that the legislation will increase the deficit by $1.4 trillion.
A provision that could, as this report from International Business Times notes:
...a provision that could benefit his vast real estate holdings [...]
Corker called IBT to respond to a series of IBT investigative reports showing that he switched his vote to “yes” on the tax legislation, only after Republican leaders added in a provision reducing taxes on income from real-estate LLCs.
Federal records reviewed by IBT show Corker, a commercial real estate mogul, made up to $7 million last year from such income.
Pr*sid*nt Donald Trump's financial disclosures listed between $41 million and $68 million of the same income.
Corker insists that he had not seen the text of the Bill before he flipped his no vote to a yes vote. That part is at least plausible. The Bill is over a 1000 pages
“I had like a two-page summary I went through with leadership,” said Corker. “I never saw the actual text.”
This though, does not ring true coming from a typical republican politician — imo:
“I don’t really know what the provision does to be honest. I would need an accountant to explain it,”
Corker said.
“I had no knowledge of this and would have no knowledge of it except for you guys are calling me about it. I have no idea whatsoever whether it impacts me or doesn’t impact me.”
..but to give Bob Corker the benefit of the doubt, Bob Corker could make good on his original promise not to “add one penny” to the deficit and prove he’s a man of his word.
Vote No Corker. Prove it..
Help save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
Prove you are that rare, honest, republican politician. Or rather, at least some temporary honestly on this, just this one time. Vote no on this travesty of a Tax Scam that will hurt so many people, designed as the opening “starve the beast" gambit to end social programs and to transfer even more wealth to the already super-rich international corporations and individuals