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The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:28 PM
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U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) Says He Had No Involvement In Tax Reform Legislation

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT)-- United States Senator Bob Corker said he had no involvement in the tax form legislation after several reports surfaced over the weekend suggesting that he did.

Senator Corker wrote to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch Sunday to ask how the rumors got started

In a letter written to Chairman Hatch Senator Corker wrote:

"Dear Chairman Hatch:

I appreciate the fact that on Thursday, as the conferees were concluding their work and before the weekend began when Senate staffs and members were going through the tax bill in detail, that I was provided with a briefing on key provisions in the reconciled conference bill that were different than those of the Senate bill.

Yesterday afternoon, I received a call from a reporter asking about what he alleged to be a new provision in the legislation. The suggestion was that it was airdropped into the conference without prior consideration by either the House or the Senate. Since this issue has never been discussed with us by committee or Senate leadership, I went back through the bill in detail today.

Beginning on page 25, line 3, there is a policy related to pass-through businesses and what is known as the alternative limitation on the deduction amount. My understanding from talking to leadership staff today is that a version of this provision was always in the House bill—from the Ways & Means markup, through House floor consideration—and in reconciling the divergent House and Senate approaches to pass-through businesses this House approach stayed in the final conferenced version.

Because this issue has raised concerns, I would ask that that you provide an explanation of the evolution of this provision and how it made it into the final conference report. I think that because of many sensitivities, clarity on this issue is very important and hope that you will respond in an expeditious manner."

The senator is not a member of the tax-writing committee and had no involvement in crafting the legislation, according to a spokesperson for Senator Corker.

The spokesperson added Senator Corker requested no specific tax provisions throughout the months-long debate and had no knowledge of the pass-through provision in question.