President Donald Trump said that his self-imposed July 4 goal to pass his tax bill isn’t an absolute deadline, remarks that give Republican negotiators additional breathing room as lawmakers remain at loggerheads over several issues in the massive economic package.
“It’s important, it’s not the end-all,” Trump told reporters on Friday about the Independence Day deadline. “It can go longer, but we’d like to get it done by that time if possible.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested earlier Friday that the July 4 date may slip, even as he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said they believed they could soon unlock a compromise over one of the key sticking points in the bill: the state and local tax deduction.
Trump is planning to stay in Washington over the weekend to exert pressure on lawmakers to reach a deal on the bill, according to a White House official. Republicans remain divided over several thorny issues holding up the bill, including size of the SALT deduction, cuts to Medicaid health benefits and the price-tag of the legislation.
Bessent said that he met with a group of what he called the “SALT Republicans” at the Treasury Department Thursday, where he said they made progress even as New York Republican Nick LaLota proclaimed he’s a “hard no” on a proposal being floated to raise the cap for only five years.
“My sense is we’re very close to a deal. It’s going to help the voters in their district, but it is going to be fair for the overall American people,” Bessent told Fox Business on Friday. “It’s time for everyone to put away individual interests.”
Those so-called SALT Republicans are pushing to preserve a deal included in the House bill that increased the deduction cap to $40,000, up from the $10,000 in current law. The Senate draft keeps the write-off at $10,000.
Some House lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and California have threatened to block the bill without an adequate SALT compromise.
Talks between Bessent, House members and Senate leaders in recent days have coalesced around including a $40,000 cap in the legislation, but senators have pushed to water down other elements included in the House SALT plan, including a lower income limit to claim the credit and a slower annual increases to the write-off.not supported.
The talks have been fraught, with LaLota calling an offer Bessent presented before the Treasury meeting on Thursday as “insulting” and “disgusting.” LaLota said then he would not go to the Treasury meeting but others attended.
On Friday, LaLota said he’d heard talk of a proposal that would set the SALT cap at $40,000 for five years and then revert to $10,000 after that.
“I can’t be a yes on that. That just affirms the very thing I’ve been against for so long,” he said.
New York divisions
Fellow New York Republican Mike Lawler, however, called the ongoing talks “productive” but declined to disclose details. When asked if SALT Republicans are splintering, Lawler said, “I’ll let others speak for themselves.”
Johnson told reporters Friday that he believes the long-running negotiations over the SALT deduction will be “resolved in a manner that everybody can live with.”
“No one will be delighted about it, but that’s kind of the way this works around here,” Johnson said, projecting that he believes other sticking points on the bill can be resolved Friday.
Senator Markwayne Mullin, a key negotiator, added that they have spent hours negotiating alongside the White House on SALT, reiterating that neither side will feel “great” about it, but that he hopes there will be more reasons to vote for it than against it.
“The fact is: we need the SALT guys,” Mullin said on Fox News. “It’s expensive, though. It’s a really, really expensive price tag.”
Ongoing talks
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington told Fox Business SALT is just one of several issues — including resolving differences over cuts to Medicaid and nutrition benefits — that still has to be addressed. He said that a key issue for many House members is the overall price tag of the bill, which may prove to be a challenge if the Senate produces a more costly version than the House proposal.
Dozens of House conservatives in coordination with four Senate conservatives are raising objections to the cost of the House bill. They want to see deeper cuts to the safety net and are angered that some cuts have been tossed out of the bill by the Senate parliamentarian.
“The Senate has to work through some issues. I’m not as concerned about SALT and about the healthcare and welfare reforms,” Arrington said. “I’m mostly concerned about the cost.”
Trump has said he wants Congress to send him the final bill to sign by July 4, a deadline that is looking increasingly elusive as lawmakers grind through the talks. The Senate is planning to stay in Washington through the weekend and could begin the voting process in the coming days.
— With assistance from Jamie Tarabay, Akayla Gardner and Stephanie Lai
