In an interview on “Fox & Friends”, Senator Bob Corker, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, on Tuesday discussed his work to improve the Senate tax reform legislation by putting in place a “trigger” mechanism that would ensure fiscal responsibility should economic growth estimates not be realized.
“I think all of us want to get across the finish line, and we are trying to make this bill one that not only serves our immediate interests as a nation but also our long-term interests,” he said. “Everybody is working feverishly right now to try to get to that place.
“For the last 13 days, we have been working with the finance committee and over the Thanksgiving holiday… very feverishly with the White House – both [White House National Economic Council Director] Gary Cohn, [Treasury Secretary] Steve Mnuchin, who was in my office yesterday, [White House Chief of Staff] John Kelly, and others – to try to create a backstop, or a trigger mechanism, that to the extent the growth estimates that have been laid out aren’t achieved, we don’t pass on even greater debt to our children. We are working on that right now and hopefully we’re going to be successful.
“What you don’t want to do is create uncertainty as businesses are making decisions down the road. And you don’t want to do something that stifles growth.
We’re working on all of those things right now, again, very constructively with each other to try to resolve it.”