Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who sits on the budget committee, seemed to throw down the gauntlet this week, saying he would push for a pro-growth tax overhaul that pays for itself using “valid models.” He singled out the Joint Committee on Taxation in comments to reporters, suggesting that Republicans would be looking beyond their analysis when assessing the plan’s cost.
Mr. Corker, in an interview on Friday, said that the experience of working with the Congressional Budget Office during Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act buttressed his view that analyses from economists outside the government should be considered when scoring tax legislation.
“I do think it is time for us to have a real debate and to have real economists weighing in and we should take other things into account other than Joint Tax and C.B.O,” Mr. Corker said. “I think it’s fair for us to get outside help.”
He added: “We’ve learned during the health care debate, these guys are not super-people.”
To some fiscal conservatives, anti-deficit groups and veterans of past tax bill battles, the reluctance to rely on traditional, nonpartisan scorekeepers is a sign the math needed to support tax legislation is going to get fuzzy.
“Without massive budget gimmicks, there’s no way they can do what they want to do,” said David Brockway, chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation from 1983 to 1987.
