Beginning the Debate on Tax Reform

On Thursday, Senator Corker, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement after voting for a budget resolution that carries the procedural tools requested by Senate leadership to kick-start the legislative process on tax reform.

“The sole purpose of this budget resolution was to kick-start the legislative process on tax reform,” said Corker. “Now that we have given the tax-writing committee the headroom they need to move beyond parliamentary hurdles that exist in the Senate, it is my hope that they will produce a bill that – while allowing for current policy assumptions and reasonable dynamic scoring – does not add to the deficit, sets rates that are permanent in nature, and closes a minimum of $4 trillion in loopholes and special interest deductions.”

Ensuring Families Are Not Burdened With Rising Health Care Premiums and Fewer Choices

On Wednesday, Senator Corker cosponsored bipartisan legislation to stabilize the individual health insurance market and begin to lower the cost of premiums. The bill was authored by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

“Congress has a responsibility to ensure that families in Tennessee and across our country who receive health insurance through the individual market do not continue to be burdened with rising premiums and fewer choices,” said Corker. “This bill is a temporary fix that will give states the flexibility they need as we work to develop a health care replacement that will stand the test of time and work better for the American people, and I applaud Senator Alexander’s leadership on this important issue.”

Preventing a Nuclear-Armed Iran

Earlier this month, ahead of an announcement by President Donald J. Trump on his decision regarding Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Senator Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement regarding a comprehensive legislative strategy to address flaws in the nuclear agreement.

“Over the last several months, we have been working closely with the State Department, National Security Council and Senator Cotton to develop a legislative strategy to address bipartisan concerns about the JCPOA without violating U.S. commitments,” said Corker, who voted against the JCPOA and led the opposition in Congress. “We appreciate Senator Rubio’s contributions to this comprehensive framework and look forward to working closely with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to build support for legislation based on the shared goal of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.”

Welcoming Tennesseans to Washington

Last week, Senators Corker and Alexander hosted more than 35 Tennesseans at “Tennessee Tuesday,” a regular breakfast held on Capitol Hill every week the Senate is in session for visitors from the Volunteer State. For more information, click here.

Using Existing Taxpayer Dollars More Efficiently to Reach More People in Need

With an estimated 815 million people suffering from hunger and 20 million at risk of starvation worldwide, Senator Corker on Thursday made the following statement at a hearing to examine current policies governing the delivery of food aid through the Food for Peace program and ways to use existing resources more efficiently to reach more people in need.

“We are currently facing a historic humanitarian crisis with over 800 million people worldwide who are in need of food aid,” said Corker. “The United States continues to be the world leader in providing more than a third of all emergency food aid—over $2 billion annually. Sadly, despite our generosity, there are shortfalls from what is needed due to other donor nations not fully meeting the challenge. In next year’s Farm Bill deliberations, we have an opportunity to do more without having to spend more money...The Farm Bill requires aid to be sourced almost entirely from U.S. farmers, half of which must be shipped on U.S.-flagged vessels according to cargo preference rules. Because of these utterly ridiculous requirements, only 35 to 40 cents of each dollar is actually used to provide food to people who are starving. If we relaxed the commodity preference to match the needs overseas, the overhead costs would drop dramatically. U.S. farmers would still play a vital role in the program, and we would free up over 300 million dollars to be used to feed up to 9.5 million more starving people each year.”

“I spoke to the Tennessee Farm Bureau, each state has one,” added Corker. “These are good people who care about their communities. They care about people around the world. They were aghast at the fact that Congress had these ridiculous requirements in place and that people are starving because of these ridiculous requirements when their goal is to feed America and to feed the world.”

Click here or on the image above to watch the senator's remarks.

Prior to the hearing, Corker participated in a discussion at the American Enterprise Institute on the need to modernize food aid. 

Click here or on the image above to watch the discussion.