NBC host Seth Meyers attacked congressional Republicans on Tuesday over a provision in the tax bill that, citing reports, he said would personally enrich Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
On “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” the host tore into the GOP for “ramming through” tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy before some senators have even read the bill.
“Now, the Republicans appear to have the votes to pass this bill after securing a key vote, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who voted against the bill the first time because it would add nearly $1.5 trillion to the deficit. Corker announced last week that he would support the bill, despite the fact the deficit impact is virtually the same. So what changed?” Meyers asked.
{mosads}He then played news clips that explain a provision tucked into the final bill would reduce taxes on real estate LLCs, which could benefit people such as Corker with real estate investments.
Meyers accused Republicans of using the provision to win over Corker, who has said he didn’t know about the provision and had nothing to do with its inclusion in the tax bill. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has backed up Corker’s story.
“Now, Corker and the GOP claim he didn’t even know about the provision, and that this whole thing is one big misunderstanding,” Meyers said.
“And who knows? Maybe that’s the case,” he continued. “But if it is, Republicans are doing a bad job of defending themselves.”
He then showed video of Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) defending Corker by saying the provision was just one part of the bill.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not a convincing argument,” Meyers joked. “That’s like if you poison your husband and tell the cops ‘my meatloaf has a lot of ingredients, antifreeze is just one of them.'”
Meyers then noted that Corker said he had not read the full legislation.
“Wow, so Corker’s argument is basically, ‘this doesn’t benefit me, I haven’t read the bill, I don’t understand the bill, this is ridiculous, and if you’ll excuse me, I have to go vote for the bill,'” Meyers said, to laughs.
Meyers also criticized Republicans for including a provision that would benefit Trump at the last minute.
“And even if it is true that Corker had no idea, the fact remains that Republicans added it, at the last minute. A provision that would personally enrich Corker, Trump, and Trump’s family. And the senators who are supposed to vote on that provision didn’t even know it was there. Which means Republicans are racing to pass a massively unpopular tax plan, and they’re only defense is that they didn’t read it,” Meyers continued.
“No wonder this bill is doing so badly in the polls. In another words,” Meyers finished, playing a clip of Trump, who added: “People are very, very angry.”