Senators Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and David Perdue were among those voting for a budget resolution that carries the procedural tools requested by Senate leadership to kick-start the legislative process on tax reform.
The Senate version of the fiscal year 2018 budget resolution passed by a vote of 51 to 49.
“The sole purpose of this budget resolution was to kick-start the legislative process on tax reform,” said Senator 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.”
Senator Corker is not a member of the Senate tax-writing committee.
Senator Alexander said, "You don’t need to be an accountant to know that our tax code is too complicated, takes too many dollars away from Tennesseans and makes it harder to create good-paying jobs for Tennessee families. The Senate’s passage of a budget resolution provides the tools necessary for tax reform, and I will continue working with President Trump and my colleagues in Congress to create a simpler system that will keep more money in Tennesseans’ pockets and help create and grow jobs for Tennessee families.”
Senator Perdue (R-GA), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said, “Let's be very clear. This budget is a sham and the entire budget process is a fraud being perpetrated on the American people. Only four times in the past 43 years has the budget process fully worked to fund the government on time. The only reason we're even doing the budget like this is to get tax done this year.
“In the middle of the dog-and-pony show tonight there was a glimmer of hope. Senator Whitehouse and I teamed up to author a bipartisan amendment to acknowledge our frustration with the budget process and the need to fix it. The U.S. Senate agreed unanimously that the budget process is broken. Getting the entire U.S. Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, to acknowledge the futility of the current budget process and the political side shows that come with it, is a step in the right direction. We need to fix this.
“It is all related. In order for the federal government to have the ability to act on our national priorities, we must solve the debt crisis. To solve the debt crisis, we have to fix our budget process. Job one is getting the economy going, and the economy will move if we get this tax deal done. It's as simple as that.”
The U.S. Senate unanimously agreed by a voice vote to Senator Perdue's bipartisan amendment with Senator Whitehouse that he said acknowledges Congress’ broken budget process (Perdue 1167).