Republicans report progress, but no deal on critical SALT issue
After a high-stakes meeting with Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday, House Republicans in the SALT Caucus and a key GOP senator reported 'progress' but no deal, leaving one of the thorniest issues in the party's tax and spending bill unresolved.
Stakeholders say talks have zeroed in on keeping in place the $40,000 deduction cap — which the SALT Caucus negotiated in the House — but lowering the $500,000 income threshold and adjusting the numbers for inflation, a compromise of sorts that would appease moderate House Republicans while also placating Senate conservatives.
The clock, however, is ticking: Senate GOP leaders are hoping to put their version of the 'big, beautiful bill' on the floor by Friday — officially kicking off the consideration process — but can't move forward without a SALT deal.
Some lawmakers say an agreement is imminent.
'We've made a little bit of progress; we're still working through it,' Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a former House member who has served as a key liaison between the chambers, told The Hill after Wednesday's meeting. 'I think we'll have something shaken out by tomorrow — maybe, hopefully. I think we're in good shape.'
Others, however, were more pessimistic. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), a key member of the SALT Caucus who attended the meeting with Bessent on Wednesday, said the gathering was 'pleasant' and 'cordial,' but the two chambers are still a ways away from consensus.
'Everybody wants a deal, everybody wants to get to yes, everybody wants to put the nation on a better track,' LaLota said. 'But it does seem like the Senate and the House right now are far apart.'
In one signal that negotiations may be approaching their final phase, Bessent huddled with Republicans on the issue twice this week, meeting with Senate Republicans on Tuesday and SALT Caucus members Wednesday.
Attendees were coy about the contents of the meeting, though some said they were glad to see the Cabinet member taking an increasingly active role. Lawmakers didn't emerge from the meeting floating any new policy proposals, but instead making tweaks to existing parameters.
'He's a former constituent and certainly understands my district, understands the issue of SALT, so I think it's good to engage in the conversation with the secretary,' said Rep. Mike Lawler (R), who represents New York's 17th Congressional District.
Asked if Bessent's presence should be taken as a sign that a deal is close, LaLota replied, 'I hope that we're closer today than we were yesterday.'
'He's the Treasury secretary speaking on behalf of the administration on a bill that affects the nation's financial well-being,' LaLota said.
According to one Senate GOP aide, Mullin and the White House presented multiple options to the SALT Caucus members. Those would likely keep the $40,000 figure in place, but would focus on altering the threshold and cap phaseouts to secure more savings.
'We're getting close to where we need that issue landed,' Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said, adding that talks have been 'very productive' of late. 'This is one of those deals where nobody's going to get everything that they want.'
Lawler seemed to agree.
'Well we're near the end of the bill, aren't we? I mean, the Senate is barreling towards a vote, and obviously the president and the White House want to get this bill across the finish line. So, obviously we're getting towards the end here,' he said.
Moderate House Republicans from high-tax blue states — including New York, New Jersey and California — have been at odds with Senate Republicans for months over SALT, with stakeholders in the lower chamber pushing for a higher deduction cap and those in the upper chamber voicing sharp opposition to such a move.
The disagreement escalated into a full-on fight earlier this month when the Senate Finance Committee released its portion of the megabill that had a $10,000 deduction cap for individuals making $500,000 or less — down from the $40,000 cap House SALT Caucus members landed after months of tenuous negotiations with their leadership. The cap, as implemented in the 2017 Trump tax cuts, currently stands at $10,000.
Now, members are trying to bridge that gap. After initially shutting down the idea of lowering the $500,000 income threshold — 'I am done negotiating,' LaLota told The Hill when asked about the prospect last week — key lawmakers in the SALT Caucus appear open to the proposal, if the price is right.
'The Senate's been describing it like that, yes, to not futz with the $40K deduction, but it seems that they're endeavoring to change the $500K income cap,' he told reporters Wednesday. 'And I've been clear, if they do that, if they water the income cap down, they need to strengthen other provisions like the inflation adjustment.'
'Otherwise, it's not a compromise,' he added. 'Otherwise, it's them just trying to jam their preferences down our throats.'
The phaseout figures are also something Senate GOP members are angling to lower. The House GOP plan would have shrunk the deduction cap down to $10,000 for individuals making $600,000 — giving Senate Republicans another area they believe they can find much-needed savings.
Negotiations on the topic were always poised to be difficult. No Senate Republicans hail from high-tax blue states, leaving SALT without an advocate in the upper chamber — a stark difference from the House GOP conference, as leadership in both chambers is acutely aware of.
'We've been clear from the very beginning with our Senate counterparts that the issues with SALT in the House are very different than the issues in the Senate,' House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said. 'We have about a dozen members that are voting on this bill exclusively based on what happens with SALT. There's not a single senator on the Republican side that has that same issue.'
'So, it is a House challenge that we've had to work on from the beginning that just doesn't exist over in the Senate side,' he added. 'But it has to get resolved if you're going to have a bill that passes.'
Mullin has held numerous discussions with the key House faction in recent days, having told reporters throughout that stretch that the goal was not necessarily to strike an agreement but to get to a point of 'acceptance.'
'I don't think either side is going to like it,' he said Tuesday, adding that they need to get 'to the point where it's palatable enough to take it and not vote not against, and that goes for both chambers.'
'Everybody's got very strong opinions about it,' he added.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
28 minutes ago
- The Hill
Republicans look to make a U-turn on federal commitment to electric vehicles for the Postal Service
WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after being lauded for its plan to replace thousands of aging, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip billions in federal EV funding. In June, the Senate parliamentarian blocked a Republican proposal in a major tax-and-spending bill to sell off the agency's new electric vehicles and infrastructure and revoke remaining federal money. But efforts to halt the fleet's shift to clean energy continue in the name of cost savings. Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, said canceling the program now would have the opposite effect, squandering millions of dollars. 'I think it would be shortsighted for Congress to now suddenly decide they're going to try to go backwards and take the money away for the EVs or stop that process because that's just going to be a bunch of money on infrastructure that's been wasted,' he said. Beyond that, many in the scientific community fear the government could pass on an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming when urgent action is needed. Electrified vehicles reduce emissions A 2022 University of Michigan study found the new electric postal vehicles could cut total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million tons over the predicted, cumulative 20-year lifetime of the trucks. That's a fraction of the more than 6,000 million metric tons emitted annually in the United States, said professor Gregory A. Keoleian, co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Systems. But he said the push toward electric vehicles is critical and needs to accelerate, given the intensifying impacts of climate change. 'We're already falling short of goals for reducing emissions,' Keoleian said. 'We've been making progress, but the actions being taken or proposed will really reverse decarbonization progress that has been made to date.' Many GOP lawmakers share President Donald Trump's criticism of the Biden-era green energy push and say the Postal Service should stick to delivering mail. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said 'it didn't make sense for the Postal Service to invest so heavily in an all-electric force.' She said she will pursue legislation to rescind what is left of the $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act allocated to help cover the $10 billion cost of new postal vehicles. Ernst has called the EV initiative a 'boondoggle' and 'a textbook example of waste,' citing delays, high costs and concerns over cold-weather performance. 'You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate at which the company that's providing those vehicles is able to produce them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract,' Ernst said during a recent appearance at the Iowa State Fair, referring to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense. 'For now,' she added, 'gas-powered vehicles — use some ethanol in them — I think is wonderful.' Corn-based ethanol is a boon to Iowa's farmers, but the effort to reverse course has other Republican support. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a co-sponsor of the rollback effort, has said the EV order should be canceled because the project 'has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs.' The Postal Service maintains that the production delay of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, or NGDVs, was 'very modest' and not unexpected. 'The production quantity ramp-up was planned for and intended to be very gradual in the early months to allow time for potential modest production or supplier issues to be successfully resolved,' spokesperson Kim Frum said. EVs help in modernization effort The independent, self-funded federal agency, which is paid for mostly by postage and product sales, is in the middle of a $40 billion, 10-year modernization and financial stabilization plan. The EV effort had the full backing of Democratic President Joe Biden, who pledged to move toward an all-electric federal fleet of car and trucks. The 'Deliver for America' plan calls for modernizing the ground fleet, notably the Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which dates back to 1987 and is fuel-inefficient at 9 mpg. The vehicles are well past their projected 24-year lifespan and are prone to breakdowns and even fires. 'Our mechanics are miracle workers,' said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. 'The parts are not available. They fabricate them. They do the best they can.' The Postal Service announced in 2022 it would deploy at least 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028, including commercial off-the-shelf models, after years of deliberation and criticism it was moving too slowly to reduce emissions. By 2024, the agency was awarded a Presidential Sustainability Award for its efforts to electrify the largest fleet in the federal government. Building new postal trucks In 2021, Oshkosh Defense was awarded a contract for up to 165,000 battery electric and internal combustion engine Next Generation vehicles over 10 years. The first of the odd-looking trucks, with hoods resembling a duck's bill, began service in Georgia last year. Designed for greater package capacity, the trucks are equipped with airbags, blind-spot monitoring, collision sensors, 360-degree cameras and antilock brakes. There's also a new creature comfort: air conditioning. Douglas Lape, special assistant to the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers and a former carrier, is among numerous postal employees who have had a say in the new design. He marvels at how Oshkosh designed and built a new vehicle, transforming an old North Carolina warehouse into a factory along the way. 'I was in that building when it was nothing but shelving,' he said. 'And now, being a completely functioning plant where everything is built in-house — they press the bodies in there, they do all of the assembly — it's really amazing in my opinion.' Where things stand now The agency has so far ordered 51,500 NGDVs, including 35,000 battery-powered vehicles. To date, it has received 300 battery vehicles and 1,000 gas-powered ones. Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in 2022 the agency expected to purchase chiefly zero-emissions delivery vehicles by 2026. It still needs some internal combustion engine vehicles that travel longer distances. Frum, the Postal Service spokesperson, said the planned NGDV purchases were 'carefully considered from a business perspective' and are being deployed to routes and facilities where they will save money. The agency has also received more than 8,200 of 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vehicles it has ordered, she said. Ernst said it's fine for the Postal Service to use EVs already purchased. 'But you know what? We need to be smart about the way we are providing services through the federal government,' she said. 'And that was not a smart move.' Maxwell Woody, lead author of the University of Michigan study, made the opposite case. Postal vehicles, he said, have low average speeds and a high number of stops and starts that enable regenerative braking. Routes average under 30 miles and are known in advance, making planning easier. 'It's the perfect application for an electric vehicle,' he said, 'and it's a particularly inefficient application for an internal combustion engine vehicle.'
29 minutes ago
Republicans look to make a U-turn on federal commitment to electric vehicles for the Postal Service
WASHINGTON -- A year after being lauded for its plan to replace thousands of aging, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip billions in federal EV funding. In June, the Senate parliamentarian blocked a Republican proposal in a major tax-and-spending bill to sell off the agency's new electric vehicles and infrastructure and revoke remaining federal money. But efforts to halt the fleet's shift to clean energy continue in the name of cost savings. Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, said canceling the program now would have the opposite effect, squandering millions of dollars. 'I think it would be shortsighted for Congress to now suddenly decide they're going to try to go backwards and take the money away for the EVs or stop that process because that's just going to be a bunch of money on infrastructure that's been wasted," he said. Beyond that, many in the scientific community fear the government could pass on an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming when urgent action is needed. A 2022 University of Michigan study found the new electric postal vehicles could cut total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million tons over the predicted, cumulative 20-year lifetime of the trucks. That's a fraction of the more than 6,000 million metric tons emitted annually in the United States, said professor Gregory A. Keoleian, co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Systems. But he said the push toward electric vehicles is critical and needs to accelerate, given the intensifying impacts of climate change. 'We're already falling short of goals for reducing emissions,' Keoleian said. 'We've been making progress, but the actions being taken or proposed will really reverse decarbonization progress that has been made to date.' Many GOP lawmakers share President Donald Trump's criticism of the Biden-era green energy push and say the Postal Service should stick to delivering mail. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said 'it didn't make sense for the Postal Service to invest so heavily in an all-electric force." She said she will pursue legislation to rescind what is left of the $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act allocated to help cover the $10 billion cost of new postal vehicles. Ernst has called the EV initiative a 'boondoggle' and "a textbook example of waste,' citing delays, high costs and concerns over cold-weather performance. 'You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate at which the company that's providing those vehicles is able to produce them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract," Ernst said during a recent appearance at the Iowa State Fair, referring to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense. 'For now,' she added, "gas-powered vehicles — use some ethanol in them — I think is wonderful.' Corn-based ethanol is a boon to Iowa's farmers, but the effort to reverse course has other Republican support. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a co-sponsor of the rollback effort, has said the EV order should be canceled because the project "has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs.' The Postal Service maintains that the production delay of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, or NGDVs, was 'very modest" and not unexpected. 'The production quantity ramp-up was planned for and intended to be very gradual in the early months to allow time for potential modest production or supplier issues to be successfully resolved,' spokesperson Kim Frum said. The independent, self-funded federal agency, which is paid for mostly by postage and product sales, is in the middle of a $40 billion, 10-year modernization and financial stabilization plan. The EV effort had the full backing of Democratic President Joe Biden, who pledged to move toward an all-electric federal fleet of car and trucks. The 'Deliver for America' plan calls for modernizing the ground fleet, notably the Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which dates back to 1987 and is fuel-inefficient at 9 mpg. The vehicles are well past their projected 24-year lifespan and are prone to breakdowns and even fires. 'Our mechanics are miracle workers,' said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. 'The parts are not available. They fabricate them. They do the best they can.' The Postal Service announced in 2022 it would deploy at least 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028, including commercial off-the-shelf models, after years of deliberation and criticism it was moving too slowly to reduce emissions. By 2024, the agency was awarded a Presidential Sustainability Award for its efforts to electrify the largest fleet in the federal government. In 2021, Oshkosh Defense was awarded a contract for up to 165,000 battery electric and internal combustion engine Next Generation vehicles over 10 years. The first of the odd-looking trucks, with hoods resembling a duck's bill, began service in Georgia last year. Designed for greater package capacity, the trucks are equipped with airbags, blind-spot monitoring, collision sensors, 360-degree cameras and antilock brakes. There's also a new creature comfort: air conditioning. Douglas Lape, special assistant to the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers and a former carrier, is among numerous postal employees who have had a say in the new design. He marvels at how Oshkosh designed and built a new vehicle, transforming an old North Carolina warehouse into a factory along the way. 'I was in that building when it was nothing but shelving,' he said. 'And now, being a completely functioning plant where everything is built in-house — they press the bodies in there, they do all of the assembly — it's really amazing in my opinion.' The agency has so far ordered 51,500 NGDVs, including 35,000 battery-powered vehicles. To date, it has received 300 battery vehicles and 1,000 gas-powered ones. Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in 2022 the agency expected to purchase chiefly zero-emissions delivery vehicles by 2026. It still needs some internal combustion engine vehicles that travel longer distances. Frum, the Postal Service spokesperson, said the planned NGDV purchases were "carefully considered from a business perspective' and are being deployed to routes and facilities where they will save money. The agency has also received more than 8,200 of 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vehicles it has ordered, she said. Ernst said it's fine for the Postal Service to use EVs already purchased. 'But you know what? We need to be smart about the way we are providing services through the federal government,' she said. 'And that was not a smart move.' Maxwell Woody, lead author of the University of Michigan study, made the opposite case. Postal vehicles, he said, have low average speeds and a high number of stops and starts that enable regenerative braking. Routes average under 30 miles and are known in advance, making planning easier. 'It's the perfect application for an electric vehicle," he said, 'and it's a particularly inefficient application for an internal combustion engine vehicle.'
Bloomberg
29 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Newsom Is Taking a Big Risk With His Gerrymandering Gambit
In what has already been a knock-down, drag-out redistricting fight ahead of next year's midterm elections, California is expected to deliver another punch this week, when lawmakers consider — and likely approve — a new congressional map that would add as many as five Democrats to the state's delegation in a narrowly divided House of Representatives. It's the first step of California Governor Gavin Newsom's threat to counteract any gains made by Texas Republicans, as they undertake redistricting to help President Donald Trump and the GOP maintain control of Washington.
