A top Republican “fiscal hawk” acknowledged Friday in blunt terms that Congress won’t address the debt or reform the budget, given the lack of public interest.
“It’s just a fact. Nobody cares,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said of fiscal responsibility at an event in Chattanooga. Corker noted that only a few people care about the debt and fiscal issues.
VIDEO – @SenBobCorker in Chattanooga Friday on federal fiscal responsibility: “Yeah I’m over it….Nobody cares. And you know you’ve got a president who’s certainly not going to deal with it.” pic.twitter.com/FgD9UagRWB
— Katherine Marchand (@KatherineNC9) May 18, 2018
His remarks quickly gained traction on social media. Corker is a self-described fiscal hawk and a member of the Senate Budget Committee. Over the years, he has called for cutting the deficit. In the fall, he initially opposed the GOP $1.5 trillion tax cut on the grounds that it would add to the debt, although he later reversed position and voted for the bill, to jeers from Democrats.
At Friday’s event with the Chattanooga Bar Association, though, he said he was “over it,” given that the public isn’t interested, nor is President Trump.
“Fiscal issues is not what the American people are focused on right now, and therefore it’s not what Congress is focused on,” he told local WRCBtv, saying that the will doesn’t exist to take on the debt. Corker is retiring at the end of the year.
