Bob Corker: 'Very Tempting to Stay' as a Senator

Sen. Bob Corker, who has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2018, admitted Wednesday it's been "very tempting to stay," but he believes deeply in the concept of being a citizen legislator.

"I'm chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, [and can] pick up the phone and talk to just about everybody in the world," Corker told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "There was a temptation to stay. But I think for me, anyway, the citizen legislator model is the right one. I am in no way frustrated."

He said he does hope something can be done on tax reform, and he wishes Senate Republicans had been able to repeal the Affordable Care Act, "but I am able to make so much happen just on the telephone that I'm not frustrated. I'm not weary. I look at what I do every day as a tremendous privilege."

Instead, said Corker, he is leaving because he feels that two terms was the right amount of time for him to serve.

Meanwhile, Corker was a key player in the Iran nuclear deal, but refused comment on whether President Donald Trump will recertify the measure by Oct. 15, or if Congress will reactivate sanctions.

"I'm so closely involved with the White House on this that I really cannot speak publicly about what I think is going to happen and then what Congress is going to do," said Corker."I apologize to you for that but I am just working so closely with them anything I might say would be revealing something that would be inappropriate for me to do."

He does believe a decision has been made, but "because again I know what the course of action likely is to be and the course of action that Congress may take as a result, I just, if you don't mind let's talk about another topic."

Corker also discussed upcoming tax reform, saying that he believes the American public will be "very surprised" by what it involves.

"I think they're looking to do everything they can to grow the economy," said Corker. "There are people throughout our country that are under employed. We need to raise productivity which means we want capital investment in companies so people can make higher wages. So that's what this is about. I think people are going to be really surprised that more the middle income and getting corporate rates down that will be the focus here."

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