page_title: Bob Corker
section_title: Tenure
hierarchical_section_title: Bob Corker / U.S. Senate / Tenure
caption_attribution_description: English: 75th Anniversary Celebration of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Dolly Parton, U.S. Senators Bob Corker, Richard Burr, Lamar Alexander, Congressmen John Duncan, Heath Shuler among others at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2009
context_page_description: Robert Phillips Corker Jr. is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2015 to 2019.
  In 1978, Corker founded a construction company, which he sold in 1990. This increased his net worth to $45 million. He ran in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Tennessee, but was defeated in the Republican primary by future Senate majority leader Bill Frist. Appointed by Governor Don Sundquist, Corker served as Commissioner of Finance and Administration for the State of Tennessee from 1995 to 1996, preceded by David Manning and succeeded by John Ferguson. He later acquired two of the largest real estate companies in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before being elected the 71st Mayor of Chattanooga in 2000; he served one term.
  Corker announced his candidacy for the 2006 U.S. Senate election in Tennessee after Frist announced his retirement. Corker narrowly defeated Democratic U.S. Representative Harold Ford Jr. in the general election, with 51% of the vote. In 2012 Corker was reelected, defeating Democrat Mark E. Clayton, 65% to 30%.
context_section_description: Corker was one of the original members of the Gang of 10, now consisting of twenty members, which is a bipartisan coalition seeking comprehensive energy reform. The group is pushing for a bill that would encourage state-by-state decisions on offshore drilling and authorize billions of dollars for conservation and alternative energy.
  In June 2008 Corker was among the 36 senators who voted against a cloture motion needed to allow the further progress of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, a measure to set up a "cap-and-trade" framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Shortly before, Corker had offered three amendments to the act which focused on returning as much money as possible to American consumers, in part by eliminating free allowances and international offsets. Two years later he supported a proposed Senate resolution to express disapproval of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency on its endangerment finding identifying greenhouse gases as a matter for regulation under the Clean Air Act. In spring 2011 he was a co-sponsor of the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would have amended the Clean Air Act to prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, and thus aimed to protect households and businesses from paying increased costs passed on to them by businesses compelled to comply with new regulations. Corker said at the time that he hoped that as an alternative to administrative regulations by the EPA, Congress would "determine a rational energy policy for the country, broadly advancing our energy security and maintaining existing policies to ensure clean air and water."
  In 2008, Corker was one of the only sixteen Senators who opposed the tax rebate stimulus plan, criticizing it as "political stimulus" for electoral campaigns. He later described the stimulus package that passed Congress as "silly".
  In December 2008, Corker opposed the federal bailout of failing U.S. automakers, and expressed doubt that the companies could be salvaged. Corker proposed that federal funds be provided for automakers only if accompanied by cuts in labor costs and other concessions from unions. The United Auto Workers (UAW), which had previously accepted a series of cuts in its current contract, sought to put off any further cuts until 2011, while Corker requested that cuts go into effect in 2009. Republicans blamed the UAW for failure to reach an agreement, while the UAW claimed that Corker's proposal singled out "workers and retirees for different treatment and make[s] them shoulder the entire burden of restructuring." Corker's plan to protect taxpayers through tough conditions on any federal aid, however, was ultimately embraced by both President George W. Bush, who put Corker's stipulations in an executive order, and President Barack Obama, through his auto task force.
  In September 2009, Corker became the ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, replacing former Sen. Mel Martinez.
  On May 20, 2010, despite his initial role as the key Republican negotiator on financial regulatory reform, Corker voted against the Senate financial regulations bill ("Restoring American Financial Stability Act", S. 3217, the Senate version of what eventually became the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act), which included provisions for increased scrutiny of financial derivatives traded by major U.S. banks and financial institutions.
  Following the Senate vote, Corker expressed his disappointment with the bill, stating, among other things, that it did not adequately address concerns about the integrity of loan underwriting, or the need to strengthen bankruptcy laws, and provide for orderly liquidation. The main critique of financial reform offered by Corker on June 10, 2010, at the joint House and Senate conference on Financial Regulation, was that it would hurt industry and jobs if passed.
  Corker opposes limits to credit card fees imposed by banks on merchant transactions.
  Corker was one of three Republicans to support the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START)
caption: U.S. Senators Bob Corker, Richard Burr, Lamar Alexander, Kay Hagan, Congressman John Duncan, and Dolly Parton among others at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2009
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image XResolution": "100", "Image YResolution": "100", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "My Image Garden", "Image DateTime": "2016:11:23 07:49:17", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "168", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "418", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6910", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:11:23 07:49:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:11:23 07:49:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1266", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "930", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom"}