U.S. Sen. Bob Corker broke with conservative orthodoxy on national television
Monday, becoming the latest congressional Republican to disavow a popular
pledge to oppose all tax increases.
Sponsored by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, the antitax
pledge until recently defined fiscal policy for most Republicans, including
Corker. The former Chattanooga mayor signed the pledge before his 2006
election to the Senate, but Monday he made it clear he's rethinking that
commitment.
"I'm not obligated on the pledge," Corker told "CBS This Morning." "I
made Tennesseans aware -- I was just elected -- that the only thing I'm
honoring is the oath that I take when ... I'm sworn in this January."
The Norquist pledge calls for signers to oppose income tax hikes for
individuals and businesses. It also discourages reductions of credits and
deductions unless they're matched "dollar for dollar" with further tax cuts.
Corker's timing is significant given the looming "fiscal cliff" that
would impose a $500 billion combination of tax increases and spending cuts if
Congress doesn't act before Jan. 1.
The coming upheaval involves several simultaneous changes, including the
expiration of the temporary payroll-tax holiday and the George W. Bush-era tax
cuts. At the same time, Congress joined last summer's debt-limit increase with
$1.2 trillion in federal spending cuts slated for early 2013.
On CBS, Corker said averting the fiscal cliff is a "very easy thing to do
technically" assuming "there are two parties that are willing to solve this
problem." Democrats believe higher taxes on the wealthy are essential to an
agreement, but it's hard to know whether Corker will meet them in the middle.
Corker's Plan
The day before his CBS appearance, Corker in a Washington Post op-ed
unveiled his own "fiscal cliff" deal that caps federal deductions at $50,000
"without raising tax rates."
Corker's 242-page plan hasn't been introduced yet, but the senator on
Monday said it would create $1 trillion in new revenues. It also includes
"comprehensive Medicare reform that keeps in place fee-for-service Medicare
without capping growth, competing side by side with private options that
seniors can choose instead if they wish."
Without getting specific, the Corker op-ed recommends gradual age hikes
within Medicare and Social Security and increasing premiums "ever so slightly"
for those making more than $50,000 a year in retirement. More details are
expected soon.
Norquist's Pledge
Corker during his re-election campaign hinted at his Norquist defection
when he introduced a "questionnaire and pledge policy" on his website this
summer.
"Going forward," he wrote, "the sole pledge I commit to is upholding my
solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States."
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, U.S. Rep. Scott
DesJarlais and the other five congressional Republicans from Tennessee are
fellow pledge signers. But they differ in their loyalty to the document.
In a statement Monday, Alexander echoed Corker, declaring he isn't "bound
by any pledge other than the oath to support and defend the Constitution."
Chattanooga's congressman took the opposite stance.
"In the past, there have been many agreements that immediately raise
revenue with a promise of spending cuts at some unspecified point down the
road," Fleischmann spokesman Alek Vey said. "As these agreements have not been
successful, Rep. Fleischmann thinks that we must first have real spending cuts
before revenue is even put on the table."
DesJarlais and U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., did not respond to requests
for comment on the Norquist pledge, but U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga, and
U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., recently described it as outdated. Another top
Republican, U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, said he was willing to
ignore the pledge if Democrats agree to restructure entitlements.
Americans for Tax Reform still includes Alexander and Corker in its
written list of pledge devotees for the upcoming 113th Congress.
A Norquist spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
