5 blue-state Republicans willing to sink tax bill over state, local deduction
The lawmakers are saying they're prepared to vote no as a group on the wide-ranging tax and spending cut package key to President Trump's agenda if they don't get the raise they want.
The group consists of Reps. Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.), Nick LaLota (N.Y.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.) Young Kim (Calif.) and Thomas Kean (N.J.) — Republicans from wealthier suburban districts of major U.S. metropolitan areas, where higher property taxes make the increased cap especially valuable to taxpayers.
'Those are the five of us who are most SALT-y, most resolved to withhold our votes until we get an accommodation from our party,' LaLota told reporters on Tuesday. 'Folks who are on the peripheries of that have a voice, but we're the ones who are willing to vote no if the time requires it.'
'The five of us have discussed our own different needs … but we recognize that our strength is in numbers, and the more we're able to stick together, the more we'll be able to answer the call for all of us,' he added.
Garbarino listed the same five Republicans as LaLota did Tuesday, saying the group is 'really sticking together on this' since their districts have a similar makeup and stand the most to lose from a lower cap.
He added that Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — who was President Trump's pick for United Nations ambassador before she withdrew earlier this year and who said over the weekend that she was 'strongly considering' running for New York governor — has become engaged on the issue.
'She voted no against the tax package because of SALT ten years ago, and she's been involved in discussions. She understands that this is a big issue for New York, and she wants to see it righted,' Garbarino told The Hill.
The group of five is set apart from other SALT caucus members from both parties, including Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.). Malliotakis is from a New York City district that has a different property tax scheme from the one in the suburbs that makes a higher SALT cap more desirable, LaLota said.
'The New York suburbs … just require a higher cap and more SALT,' he said.
Suozzi and Gottheimer are also unlikely to vote for a tax bill attached to Trump's broader legislative agenda, which includes steep spending cuts to social safety net programs.
Garbarino said the group isn't seeking a complete revocation of the cap, as was the case prior to Republicans' 2017 tax law, due to the fact that the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which is a separate tax provision, kicks in at a level that makes an unlimited SALT deduction unnecessary.
'We do agree that a cap is necessary,' he said. 'You don't need unlimited, because … AMT is going to step in and hit people that would be benefitted by unlimited anyway.'
LaLota said Tuesday that the suburban SALT block had discussed and agreed to a floor for the cap increase below which they would vote no on the GOP bill, though he declined to say what that number was.
Republicans on House committees are meeting this week and next to decide on specific tax provisions and budget cuts that they want as part of their 'big, beautiful bill,' to be passed through reconciliation, a procedure that allows a party-line vote and avoids a potential filibuster from Democrats in the Senate.
The most contentious markups — which are set for the Agriculture and Energy and Commerce committees, along with the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee — haven't happened yet.
The Energy and Commerce Committee is instructed to reduce the deficit by $880 billion, much of which is expected to come from Medicaid, and the Agriculture Committee is instructed to reduce the deficit by $230 billion, which could come from the food stamps program meant to help poorer Americans.
The Ways and Means Committee is working to extend the $4.6 trillion Trump tax cuts while working in a number of additional tax cuts promised by President Trump while campaigning last year. They are instructed not to add more than $4.5 trillion to the deficit, making their task a difficult one, though they are expected to be helped by adjustments to the accounting baseline in the Senate.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
a few seconds ago
- Boston Globe
Australia to reduce US beef import restrictions denounced by Trump as a ban
Australia has allowed imports of beef grown in the United States since 2019. But Australia has not allowed imports from the U.S. of beef sourced from Canada or Mexico because of the disease risk. But the U.S. has recently introduced additional movement controls that identify and trace all cattle from Mexico and Canada to their farms of origin. Advertisement US cattle import controls satisfy Australian authorities Australian authorities were 'satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the U.S. effectively manage biosecurity risks,' Collins said. The timing of the new, reduced restrictions has not been finalized. Trump attacked Australian import restrictions on U.S. beef when he announced in April that tariffs of at least 10% would be placed on Australian imports, with steel and aluminum facing a 50% tariff. 'Australia bans — and they're wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef," Trump told reporters then. 'Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won't take any of our beef. They don't want it because they don't want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don't blame them, but we're doing the same thing right now,' Trump added. Advertisement Lawmaker fears appeasing Trump endangers Australian cattle industry Opposition lawmaker David Littleproud suspected the government was endangering Australia's cattle industry to appease Trump. 'I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I'm suspicious of the speed at which this has been done,' Littleproud told reporters. 'We need to give confidence to the industry, but also to you (the public): this is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially coming into this country and having a human impact, so I think it's important the government's very transparent about the science and I don't think it's even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science to give confidence to everybody,' he added. Around 70% of Australian beef is exported. Producers fear that export market would vanish overnight if diseases including mad cow or foot-and-mouth disease infected Australian cattle. Will Evans, chief executive of Cattle Australia who represents more than 52,000 grass-fed beef producers across the nation, said he was confident the agriculture department had taken a cautious approach toward U.S. imports. 'The department's undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them. They've made this assessment themselves. They've said: 'We've looked at this, we've looked at the best science, this is a decision that we feel comfortable with,'' Evans told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. 'When you have a 75 billion (Australian dollar, $50 billion) industry relying on them not making this mistake, I'm sure they've been very cautious in their decision-making,' he added. US beef prices rise because of drought and a domestic cattle shortage Beef prices have been rising in the U.S. due to factors that include drought and shrinking domestic herd numbers. Advertisement The average price of a pound of ground beef in the U.S. rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound. Australia's opposition to any U.S. tariffs will be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secures his first face-to-face meeting with Trump. Albanese and Trump were to hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month, but the U.S. president left early. Albanese expects the pair will meet this year, although no date has been announced. The two countries have had a bilateral free trade deal for 20 years and the U.S. has maintained a trade surplus with Australia for decades.
2 minutes ago
Australia to reduce US beef import restrictions denounced by Trump as a ban
MELBOURNE, Australia -- MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia will reduce restrictions on U.S. beef imports after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized what he described as an Australian ban on the meat, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said. Collins said Thursday that relaxing the restrictions designed to keep Australia free of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, among its cattle herds would not compromise biosecurity. 'Australia stands for open and free trade — our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this,' Collins said in a statement. Australia has allowed imports of beef grown in the United States since 2019. But Australia has not allowed imports from the U.S. of beef sourced from Canada or Mexico because of the disease risk. But the U.S. has recently introduced additional movement controls that identify and trace all cattle from Mexico and Canada to their farms of origin. Australian authorities were 'satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the U.S. effectively manage biosecurity risks,' Collins said. The timing of the new, reduced restrictions has not been finalized. Trump attacked Australian import restrictions on U.S. beef when he announced in April that tariffs of at least 10% would be placed on Australian imports, with steel and aluminum facing a 50% tariff. 'Australia bans — and they're wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,' Trump told reporters then. 'Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won't take any of our beef. They don't want it because they don't want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don't blame them, but we're doing the same thing right now,' Trump added. Opposition lawmaker David Littleproud suspected the government was endangering Australia's cattle industry to appease Trump. 'I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I'm suspicious of the speed at which this has been done,' Littleproud told reporters. 'We need to give confidence to the industry, but also to you (the public): this is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially coming into this country and having a human impact, so I think it's important the government's very transparent about the science and I don't think it's even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science to give confidence to everybody,' he added. Around 70% of Australian beef is exported. Producers fear that export market would vanish overnight if diseases including mad cow or foot-and-mouth disease infected Australian cattle. Will Evans, chief executive of Cattle Australia who represents more than 52,000 grass-fed beef producers across the nation, said he was confident the agriculture department had taken a cautious approach toward U.S. imports. 'The department's undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them. They've made this assessment themselves. They've said: 'We've looked at this, we've looked at the best science, this is a decision that we feel comfortable with,'' Evans told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. 'When you have a 75 billion (Australian dollar, $50 billion) industry relying on them not making this mistake, I'm sure they've been very cautious in their decision-making,' he added. Beef prices have been rising in the U.S. due to factors that include drought and shrinking domestic herd numbers. The average price of a pound of ground beef in the U.S. rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound. Australia's opposition to any U.S. tariffs will be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secures his first face-to-face meeting with Trump. Albanese and Trump were to hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month, but the U.S. president left early. Albanese expects the pair will meet this year, although no date has been announced. The two countries have had a bilateral free trade deal for 20 years and the U.S. has maintained a trade surplus with Australia for decades.
18 minutes ago
Trump's trip to Scotland highlights complex relationship with his mother's homeland
LONDON -- U.S. President Donald Trump 's trip to Scotland this week will be a homecoming of sorts, but he's likely to get a mixed reception. Trump has had a long and at times rocky relationship with the country where his mother grew up in a humble house on a windswept isle. He will be met by both political leaders and protesters during the visit, which begins Friday and takes in his two Scottish golf resorts. It comes two months before King Charles III is due to welcome him on a formal state visit to the U.K. Trump's mother was born Mary Anne MacLeod in 1912 near the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides off Scotland's northwest coast. 'My mother was born in Scotland — Stornoway, which is serious Scotland,' Trump said in 2017. She was raised in a large Scots Gaelic-speaking family and left for New York in 1930, one of thousands of people from the islands to emigrate in the hardscrabble years after World War I. MacLeod married the president's father, Fred C. Trump, the son of German immigrants, in New York in 1936. She died in August 2000 at the age of 88. Trump still has relatives on Lewis, and visited in 2008, spending a few minutes in the plain gray house where his mother grew up. Trump's ties and troubles in Scotland are intertwined with golf. He first proposed building a course on a wild and beautiful stretch of the North Sea coast north of Aberdeen in 2006. The Trump International Scotland development was backed by the Scottish government. But it was fiercely opposed by some local residents and conservationists, who said the stretch of coastal sand dunes was home to some of the country's rarest wildlife, including skylarks, kittiwakes, badgers and otters. Local fisherman Michael Forbes became an international cause célèbre after he refused the Trump Organization's offer of 350,000 pounds ($690,000 at the time) to sell his family's rundown farm in the center of the estate. Forbes still lives on his property, which Trump once called 'a slum and a pigsty.' 'If it weren't for my mother, would I have walked away from this site? I think probably I would have, yes,' Trump said in 2008 amid the planning battle over the course. 'Possibly, had my mother not been born in Scotland, I probably wouldn't have started it.' The golf course was eventually approved and opened in 2012. Some of the grander aspects of the planned development, including 500 houses and a 450-room hotel, have not been realized, and the course has never made a profit. A second 18-hole course at the resort is scheduled to open this summer. It's named the MacLeod Course in honor of Trump's mother. There has been less controversy about Trump's other Scottish golf site, the long-established Turnberry resort in southwest Scotland, which he bought in 2014. He has pushed for the British Open to be held at the course for the first time since 2009. Turnberry is one of 10 courses on the rotation to host the Open. But organizers say there are logistical issues about 'road, rail and accommodation infrastructure' that must be resolved before it can return. Trump has had a rollercoaster relationship with Scottish and U.K. politicians. More than a decade ago, the Scottish government enlisted Trump as an unpaid business adviser with the GlobalScot network, a group of business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives with a connection to Scotland. It dumped him in 2015 after he called for Muslims to be banned from the U.S. The remarks also prompted Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen to revoke an honorary doctorate in business administration it had awarded Trump in 2010. This week Trump will meet left-leaning Scottish First Minister John Swinney, an erstwhile Trump critic who endorsed Kamala Harris before last year's election — a move branded an 'insult' by a spokesperson for Trump's Scottish businesses. Swinney said it's 'in Scotland's interest' for him to meet the president. Some Scots disagree, and a major police operation is being mounted during the visit in anticipation of protests. The Stop Trump Scotland group has encouraged demonstrators to come to Aberdeen and 'show Trump exactly what we think of him in Scotland.' U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also expected to travel to Scotland for talks with Trump. The British leader has forged a warm relationship with Trump, who said this month 'I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he's a liberal.' They are likely to talk trade, as Starmer seeks to nail down an exemption for U.K. steel from Trump's tariffs.
