WASHINGTON — President Trump told Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) Tuesday to back off on his demand for a higher limit on state and local tax (SALT) deductions — as the ask threatens GOP unity on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Several witnesses in the room told The Post that Trump made clear he doesn’t want the tax fight to upend what could be a signature piece of legislation stuffed with campaign promises to extend his 2017 tax reform law while eliminating rates on tips, overtime and Social Security.
Trump “made clear he’s losing patience with all holdout factions of the House Republican Conference, including the SALT caucus and the House Freedom Caucus,” a senior White House official told The Post of the meeting.
“[Trump] gave Mike Lawler some praise but also encouraged him that, you know, he won his race by a lot,” added Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who said she was “very pleased to hear [the president] say we don’t want to increase SALT” deduction limits.
“That is a very unfair tax and I’m in Colorado. I’m a SALT state,” she said.
“He doesn’t want to increase SALT. He said, ‘Medicaid, leave it alone unless there is waste, fraud and abuse.’”
The current $10,000 limit on the amount in state and local taxes that can be deducted from federal taxes was imposed by Trump’s 2017 tax law. The current version of the pending bill would lift the maximum deduction to $30,000.
New York Republicans like Lawler and Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota have been pushing for a higher deduction cap — but face opposition from GOP deficit hawks who have expressed concern about its budgetary effects.
“Trump has been in communication with the holdouts and his team makes phone calls all throughout the night to us individually,” Boebert noted.
The president said while entering the Capitol that he was skeptical of completely scrapping the SALT deduction cap.
“The biggest beneficiary, if we do that, are governors from New York, Illinois and California,” he said.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), who chairs the Main Street Caucus, said Trump was “as animated [as] I have seen him on policy issues” Tuesday.
“The president has gotten frustrated with the pace of our progress, and he made it pretty clear we need to quit screwing around and get one big beautiful bill passed,” Johnson told reporters after exiting the closed-door conference meeting.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), one of four Republicans who briefly stalled the bill in the House Budget Committee before allowing it to advance Sunday night by voting “present,” didn’t commit to backing the measure when asked.
“He’s a great closer,” Norman said of the president. “As a body, he really closed the deal.”
“I’ll read the bill, we’re gonna vote tomorrow at 1 [a.m.],” he added. “Stay tuned.”
The House Rules Committee will convene in the early hours of Wednesday morning to consider the final bill’s text before voting on whether to send it to the House floor.
The SALT changes sought by Lawler — or updated Medicaid work requirements — would have to be included in whatever version is advanced by the Rules Committee before it goes to the full chamber.
