BURSTA key moderate House Republican says he is rejecting the latest offer from Senate Republicans and the White House on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, heightening the cross-chamber standoff over one of the thorniest issues in the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) — who has been one of the most vocal members of the SALT Caucus — told The Hill that the Trump administration, on behalf of Senate Republicans, presented the group with a SALT proposal that was valued at $200 billion, far less than the $344 billion value in the House-passed bill.
“The Senate’s current SALT offer falls far short—providing just 58 percent of the value in the House-passed bill. It’s not a serious proposal, and it disregards the good-faith compromise backed by 99 percent of House Republicans,” LaLota told The Hill. “I won’t participate in performative negotiations like the one scheduled this afternoon until the Senate shows it’s ready to engage in reality.”
It remains unclear how other members of the SALT Caucus feel about the offer, which was first reported by The Hill.
The House-passed measure included a $40,000 deduction cap — quadruple the number in current law — for individuals making $500,000 or less. Senate Republicans, however, reverted the proposal back to $10,000 in their version of the legislation, sparking a fierce fight between the two camps.
In recent days, however, talks have zeroed in on keeping the $40,000 deduction cap in place but changing the income threshold and inflation index.
LaLota would not disclose the contours of the latest offer, but he said it included a lower income cap and lower indexing for inflation.
LaLota’s rejection of the latest offer deals a blow to ongoing negotiations over SALT, which has emerged as one of the most difficult hangups in the party’s sprawling tax cuts and spending package.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who has been the lead negotiator for Senate Republicans on SALT, brushed off LaLota’s rebuff of the most-recent offer, exuding confidence that the two gropus will reach consensus.
“We’re still looking for a spot. We’re gonna be good,” Mullin said. “We’ll make it work, we’ll get to [a] landing spot.”
Time, however, is running out. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is pushing to put the legislation on the floor for an initial vote on Friday, which would kick off the consideration process as Republicans race to meet their self-imposed July 4 deadline. After the Senate clears the bill, the House has to give it a final stamp of approval.
Aside from SALT, Senate Republicans are still grappling with a handful of disagreements, including Medicaid cuts and the rollback of green-energy tax credits. The Senate Parliamentarian delivered GOP lawmakers a significant setback Thursday morning when she shot down key Medicaid provisions in the bill, including a proposal to cap states’ use of health care provider taxes to collect more federal Medicaid funding — a provision championed by conservatives that would have generated billions of dollars in savings to pay for President Trump’s tax cuts.
Asked if he thinks the Senate will still be able to vote on the bill this weekend, despite the lingering hangups, Mullin responded: “Yes.”
Al Weaver and Alex Bolton contributed.
Updated at 2:24 p.m.