Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) announced in a statement on Friday that he will vote for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, presumably giving Republicans enough votes to pass through the Senate and send to President Donald Trump’s desk to sign.
Bob Corker said in a statement, “After many conversations over the past several days with individuals from both sides of the aisle across Tenessee and around the country–including business owners, farmers, chambers of commerce, and economic development leaders–I have decided to support the tax reform package will vote on next week.”
Corker added:
This bill is far from perfect, and left to my own accord, we would have reached bipartisan consensus on legislation that avoided any chance of adding to the deficit and far less would have been done on the individual side with items that do not generate economic growth. But after great thought and consideration, I believe that this once-in-a-generation opportunity to make U.S. businesses domestically more productive and internationally more competitive is one we should not miss.
Corker voted against the Senate-passed version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act after arguing that the bill increased the federal deficit too much.
Sen. Marco Rubio also announced on Friday that he will support the final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act after Republicans expanded the child tax credit to alleviate Rubio’s concerns that the child tax credit did not go far enough. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) revealed that the final tax reform bill expands the child tax credit from $1,100 to $1,400.
Republicans plan to reveal the final tax legislation on Friday; Congress hopes to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act through both chambers and get it to President Donald Trump’s desk to sign next week.
President Donald Trump said that passing the tax reform bill would ensure a “Merry Christmas” for the country.