Senate Majority Leader John Thune is confident Republicans can carve out a compromise on the cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes, or SALT, that has left fiscal conservatives on the fence about President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful bill.”
Senate Republicans are trying to find a consensus on the sprawling bill that narrowly passed the House after GOP leaders and blue-state Republicans brokered a deal to raise the existing SALT cap from $10,000 to $40,000.
“We are very cognizant of the political dynamics the speaker is dealing with in the House,” Mr. Thune said on Fox News Sunday. “That said, in the Senate, at least, there isn’t a high level of interest in doing anything on SALT.
“We believe as a matter of policy, you don’t want to have low tax states subsidizing high tax states,” the South Dakota Republican said.
SALT is an exemption for taxpayers living in high-tax states.
Republicans from New York, New Jersey and California have demanded that the final bill include a higher cap and warned they will vote no if it is not part of the measure.
Mr. Thune said he is convinced lawmakers will find a “compromise position on the Salt issue” that will “allow us to get the requisite number in both the House and the Senate to get a bill on the president’s desk.”
Mr. Thune stressed the bill is a pro-growth proposal, highlighting how it extends the 2017 Trump tax cuts, expands the Child Tax credit and reduces future spending by reshaping federal programs, including Medicaid.
It also allocates more money for border security and the military.
“This is really about preservation and protecting families and ensuring that they got more dollars in their own pocket and they are sending less to Washington,” Mr. Thune said.
SALT has been a chief sticking point for conservatives.
They have aired concerns about the impact that raising the cap could have on national deficits and debt, as well as the offsets that GOP leaders have identified to mitigate the projected revenue loss.
Mr. Thune said he will “absolutely” keep senators in Washington on weekends and holidays to finalize the deal, ensuring they submit a bill to Mr. Trump by their self-imposed July 4 deadline.
“We need to get it done,” he said. “It is a huge priority for the president. He campaigned on it.”
