Some members declared they were close to an agreement after the meeting, though holdouts persist.
By Catholics for Catholics
Looking to unify the GOP on one of his main fiscal goals, President Donald Trump met with House Republicans on Tuesday, pressing them to take a unified course for a budget reconciliation bill. The measure was a part of the foundation for the agenda of his second term.
Indeed, Trump’s message to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) was a call to action, he said, according to The Epoch Times.
“We all have tinkered enough,” Johnson told reporters. “It is time to land the plane.”.
The bill has underlined the split between fiscal conservatives and moderates within the Republican conference, who have been at odds over changes to the Medicaid program and a possible increase in federal tax deductions for state and local taxes, known as SALT.
Trump, according to the Epoch Times, hinted at his preference in a pre-meeting press conference, saying, “We don’t want to benefit Democrat governors,” a reference to the SALT deduction, which benefits wealthier people concentrated in the Northeast and the West Coast.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said, “Everybody get in a room and figure it out for the country and for your business, that’s what I took from it.”
According to the Epoch Times, Trump appeared to be saying he didn’t want to increase a federal tax deduction that would overly benefit states with high taxes.
The current cap on federal income tax deductions for state and local taxes is $10,000, the Epoch Times reported. The current version of the bill raises the cap to $30,000, but some members would like it to be higher still.
“As it stands right now, I do not support the bill,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who favors a higher cap. Lawler said his constituents pay some of the highest property taxes in the country.
Still, during the meeting, the president reiterated his desire to make no cuts to Medicaid other than rooting out fraud and waste, members said.
According to the Epoch Times, the current version of the bill “includes no direct cuts to Medicaid spending but does impose a work requirement on some beneficiaries. The fiscal conservatives have asked for Medicaid work requirements to begin in 2027 rather than in 2029.”
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