Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sent a letter to Corker strongly disputing the claim.
A top Senate Republican on Monday tried to douse a growing political firestorm over suggestions that Sen. Bob Corker is backing the GOP tax bill only after winning a provision that could personally enrich him.
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sent a letter to Corker strongly disputing the claim, which spread quickly over the weekend following an International Business Times report that people who hold real estate holdings through a limited liability company will be able to take advantage of a new deduction for “pass-through” businesses even if they have few employees. Pass-throughs are companies that pay taxes through the individual, not the corporate, side of the tax code.
The report noted the Trump family and several congressional Republicans, including Corker, would likely benefit from the language. Corker has accumulated significant wealth through his real estate investments, and he immediately came under fire from the left, which accused him of flipping his vote in favor of the tax bill solely because of the real-estate language.
Corker has denied seeking specific tax provisions in the bill and said he had nothing to do with the real-estate measure. He sent a letter to Hatch on Sunday asking him to provide an explanation for how the provision made it into the final conference report.
In a letter released Monday, Hatch said it was “categorically false” that Corker sought the provision or that the language was inserted into the final tax legislation at the last minute.
“I am unaware of any attempt by you or your staff to contact anyone on the conference committee regarding this provision or any related policy matter,” Hatch wrote in the letter to Corker.
The Utah Republican added: “To the contrary, virtually all the concerns you had raised in the past about the treatment of pass-through businesses in tax reform were to voice skepticism about the generosity of various proposals under consideration.”
That has done little to mollify the plan’s opponents, who have seized on what they call the “Corker Kickback,” in a long-shot bid to derail the bill. On Monday, a coalition of liberal activists called on Corker to release his tax returns and said the Senate should wait to vote on the bill until he does so — an unlikely scenario.
„Big banks, wealthy real estate developers and other special interests are already salivating at the opportunity to exploit the massive new tax loopholes Republicans have written for them,“ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Monday. „Republicans are racing to pass the bill before the public can discover all the giveaways, but the American people already recognize the tax scam for the daylight robbery it is.“
Corker’s surprise decision to support the tax bill after railing for weeks that it would increase the federal deficit provided a major boost to GOP leaders, who are rushing to get the final legislation to President Donald Trump in the coming days.
Senate Republicans in particular had very little room for error, with the GOP controlling a narrow 52-48 majority and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is battling brain cancer, returning to Arizona. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) has also been dealing with medical issues, although he is expected to be on hand for the tax vote later this week.
Still undecided on the tax compromise are GOP Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine, although they appear likely to back the final measure. The House will vote first on the bill Tuesday before sending it to the Senate.
