‘The bill is dead': New York Republican blasts House GOP's chief tax writer
New York Republican Rep. Nick LaLota said the GOP's tax legislation as currently written is 'dead on arrival' — and accused his party's chief tax writer of acting in 'bad faith' by proceeding with a proposal for a key tax deduction that didn't have sufficient buy-in.
'The bill is dead effectively on the floor,' said LaLota in an interview Monday evening of a sweeping tax package released just hours earlier by leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, in anticipation of a markup Tuesday afternoon.
LaLota and four other blue state Republicans hailing from New York, California and New Jersey have been pushing hard for a big boost to the $10,000 state and local tax deduction as part of the Republican megabill to enact broad swaths of President Donald Trump's domestic agenda.
But of policies currently included in the Ways and Means draft bill that would increase the SALT deduction, LaLota accused committee chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) of acting in 'bad faith in presenting a bill that … doesn't even come close to earning our vote.'
A Republican spokesperson for the Ways and Means Committee declined to comment.
The open criticism of the chair of a powerful committee from a member of the same party spells big trouble for Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leaders as they race to put President Donald Trump's 'big beautiful bill' on the House floor next week. Johnson can only lose three Republicans on a party-line vote and still pass the sweeping tax, border and energy legislation.
The tax component of that bill released Monday included a tripling of the SALT cap to $30,000 and new income limits for the increased deduction. LaLota and his fellow so-called SALT Republicans think that the proposal is wildly insufficient.
LaLota pointed to a joint statement issued by him and three other Republican lawmakers rejecting a $30,000 cap last week, saying he was surprised that the committee chair revealed that the draft bill included that same figure, with a $400,000 income limit.
'The SALT Caucus summarily rejected 30k a few days ago, and yet the chairman presented 30k in the meeting,' said LaLota, adding that the SALT Republicans on the call rebutted the proposal. 'I was disappointed that the committee chairman insulted us with fake numbers and fault conclusions.'
For their part, many members of the Ways and Means committee, including Smith, believe that the SALT deduction unfairly subsidizes high-tax states. Smith has also indicated in recent days that he believes it isn't up to him to negotiate with the SALT Republicans but rather House GOP leadership. Johnson did take a more active role following the Monday morning call, according to Republicans granted anonymity to share details of private conversations.
At the same time, SALT Republicans are also experiencing fissures among themselves, which have exacerbated in the last 24 hours, mainly between the lawmakers who say they will accept an agreement closer to $30,000 and those who are digging in for a much larger increase. The SALT Republicans have also been split on whether they can tolerate an income cap on which taxpayers can claim the increased deduction.
The House Ways and Means Committee plans to open debate on the tax portion of the Trump agenda bill Tuesday afternoon. House GOP leadership hopes to resolve the differences over the SALT deduction after the markup and before the legislation heads to the chamber floor.
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