Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Monday he put his fiscal principles aside when it came time to vote on a $1.5 trillion tax bill — assuming the nation would be better off with the tax slashes than without, The New York Times reported.
"It's been really tough, especially because I did think, I really felt like we could have had a bipartisan bill that would have really withstood more fully the test of time," Corker told the Times.
"I talked to people that I respected. When I came here, I had concerns about deficits, but I also wanted pro-growth tax reform to occur, so I had this pull between the two, if you will."
"I just felt like this was a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and if I looked at myself as the deciding vote, did I feel like our country was better having it in place or not better having it in place?" he added.
A deficit hawk, Corker voted against the initial Senate bill, the only Republican to do so, after party leaders rejected his request to require automatic tax increases if the overhaul did not generate enough revenue to pay for itself.
But he stunned colleagues Friday when he announced he would back the bill.
Among the theories that circulated about his change of heart was he had a stake in companies that could benefit from the bill, with critics calling the advantages to the rich "The Corker Kickback," the Times reported.
"There's nothing to buy me off with," he told the Times, conceding the final bill was not a 'home run.'"
"I feel like it was the right decision," he told the Times. "I have no qualms about it."
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