Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) got into a spat with CNN's Wolf Blitzer following Tuesday's vote on the Republican tax bill, after Corker switched his vote from "no" to "yes."
Corker appeared uncomfortable after Blitzer played a clip of him criticizing President Trump in October, after Corker said Trump had "proven himself unable to rise to the occasion" of being president.
When pressed by Blitzer over whether he still believed what he said less than eight weeks ago, Corker said "Look, I know you’re having a great time with this interview, and I’m happy for you in doing so," adding "But, look, Wolf, I’ve said what I’ve said. And I’m doing what I’m doing."
“I don’t appreciate, you know, the front end of this interview,” Corker continued to shoot back. “You and I had a conversation about this yesterday on the phone, and you know that all of these things are totally malicious. They’re not true, and you know that, and people in the press that are responsible know that. I’m disappointed that you chose this opportunity to do what you did.”
Blitzer kicked it up a notch, admonishing Corker in a condescending tone:
“This is not fun. These are critically important issues. You’re a United States senator, Mr. Chairman, you have enormous responsibility”
“These tax cuts are going to go forward. They may be great, they may not be great, but it’s your responsibility as a U.S. senator to answer these kinds of questions, and it’s certainly not something I’m doing because I want to have fun,” the CNN host said. “I’m doing it because I’m a reporter, I’m a journalist and I’m asking you questions that are legitimate, fair questions, sir.”
Watch the exchange below:
//fave.api.cnn.io/v1/fav/
h/t Brandon Carter, The Hill
As we reported earlier, the House must vote again on the tax bill after "somebody screwed up" and accidentally missed the fact that three provisions in the Trump tax bill violate Senate budget rules - meaning that the House will need to hold another vote on the bill, most likely on Thursday.
- HOUSE NO LONGER EXPECTED TO VOTE ON SHORT-TERM SPENDING BILL WEDNESDAY, GOP AIDES SAY
- HOUSE MORE LIKELY TO VOTE THURSDAY ON SPENDING BILL
- SHAPE OF HOUSE SPENDING BILL UNCLEAR
- GOVERNMENT RUNS OUT OF MONEY AT 12:01 A.M. DEC. 23
Kennedy cautioned observers not to read too much into the delay, which Republicans have been scrambling to pass before the end of the year. Some exhausted staffer was probably responsible for the oversight, he suggested.
"We have the votes, we'll have the votes tomorrow. If necessary, we'll have the votes the day after that," Kennedy said on MSNBC.
http://player.theplatform.com/p/7wvmTC/MSNBCEmbeddedOffSite
Here's the statement from the Senate Parliamentarian explaining the bill's flaws:
Just In: the House has to vote on the tax bill AGAIN. Why? Dems challenged 3 parts of bill on the Byrd Rule and they won. The 3 issues are:1. Using 529 plans for homeschooling expenses 2. The title of the bill3. Part of criteria used for uni endowment tax pic.twitter.com/g3CzQ1A38s
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) December 19, 2017
The Senate is still expected to vote on the bill Tuesday night after removing the offending provisions.