WASHINGTON — Four New York Republicans issued a blistering joint statement Thursday rejecting an offer they said came from Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the House’s top tax writer on how to expand the state and local tax deduction, also known as SALT.
Their firm opposition in the narrowly divided House spells trouble for GOP leaders as they hope to advance the tax portion of their party-line bill for President Donald Trump’s agenda through committee next week. They can ultimately only afford to lose three Republican votes on the House floor.
Lifting the $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, which was imposed by Trump’s 2017 tax law, is a make-or-break issue for several GOP lawmakers in high-tax states like New York and New Jersey, who have been negotiating with party leaders on a compromise.
But Reps. Elise Stefanik, Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota, and Mike Lawler said Johnson and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., are proceeding with a policy to lift it to $30,000, which they consider woefully insufficient.
“We’ve negotiated in good faith on SALT from the start—fighting for the taxpayers we represent in New York. Yet with no notice or agreement, the Speaker and the House Ways and Means Committee unilaterally proposed a flat $30,000 SALT cap — an amount they already knew would fall short of earning our support,” the four Republicans said in the statement.
“It’s not just insulting — it risks derailing President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. New Yorkers already send far more to Washington than we get back — unlike many so-called ‘low-tax’ states that depend heavily on federal largesse. A higher SALT cap isn’t a luxury. It’s a matter of fairness,” they added. “We reject this offer.”
LaLota has been the loudest voice for expanding the SALT deduction. And Lawler and Stefanik are both considering runs for governor in New York, where the issue looms large.
The joint statement comes hours after Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee met privately to resolve their differences ahead of the panel’s markup next week. SALT is one of several difficult issues they must address.
Johnson addressed a question from a reporter earlier Thursday about a possible $30,000 SALT cap, before the House adjourned for the week, and suggested the issue was not yet settled.
“I’ve heard that number and I’ve heard others as well, but it’s still a ongoing discussion amongst the members and I think we’ll find the right point,” Johnson said. “I’m not gonna handicap it. … We want to make sure that most of the constituents that the large share, the vast majority of the constituents of the affected districts are covered by that. And I think we can find the right number that’ll do it and satisfy all the various concerns about it.”
A spokesperson for the House Ways and Means Committee didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Notably, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., a rare member of the “SALT Caucus” who’s on the Ways and Means Committee, did not sign onto Thursday’s statement. She said on Wednesday that the issue was still a work in progress.
“We’ll get there. It’s just a little work. We have very SALT-y members, and then we have the low-sodium members,” Malliotakis told NBC News. “We just got to find that compromise.”
