By Jackson Richman and Nathan Worcester
Contributing Writer
Five Republicans joined Democrats on the House Budget Committee on Friday to reject a sweeping policy bill to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The vote tally was 16-21. Republicans could not afford to lose the votes of more than two of their own members on the committee. On the House floor, Republicans cannot afford to lose the votes of more than three of their own members.
The no vote by the panel marks a setback for House Republican leadership, who hope to pass the bill by Memorial Day. They are still negotiating with both fiscal hawks and blue-state Republicans who want changes to various provisions of the package.
The bill would make income tax cuts enacted in 2017 permanent and would implement measures to secure the border and unleash American energy. It would increase the cap on the state and local tax, or SALT, deduction from $10,000 per household to $30,000.
The SALT deduction allows taxpayers who itemize deductions, especially in high-tax states such as New York and California, to claim a deduction on their federal income tax return for certain state and local taxes.
The SALT cap has been a point of contention with members of New York’s congressional delegation, including Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who are calling for the cap to be lifted.
Five Republicans on the committee, Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., and Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., joined all Democrats in voting against the bill.
Smucker, who has been outspoken in saying the bill cannot add to the deficit, changed his vote from yes to no.
“Sadly, I’m a hard no until we get this ironed out,” Norman said.
Norman later told reporters that it is problematic that the bill’s reforms and cuts to Medicaid would not take effect until 2029.
“This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits,” Roy said.
“I am a no on this bill unless serious reforms are made today, tomorrow, Sunday.”
Clyde said: “Unfortunately, the current version falls short of these goals and fails to deliver the transformative change that Americans were promised … Substantive improvements are needed.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters ahead of the committee meeting that the changes can’t happen overnight.
“We’re all in agreement on the reforms we want to make. We want to have work requirements. We want to phase out a lot of these green subsidies,” he said.
“It’s not as quickly as saying you just turn it off tomorrow. Some things the administration does have to actually create a process to implement it, and we want to make sure that the Trump administration has the time they need, while pushing it as fast as possible.”
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., told reporters that the bill could be better, but he will still support it.
“We could have made bigger reforms, cut more spending, but at the end of the day, this is going to get the economy growing for the American people,” he said.
Democrats said the bill was a benefit for the wealthy and a detriment for the not-so-rich.
“It’s an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the American working class to the richest and most powerful people on the planet,” said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y.
Democrats introduced motions to change the bill, but those motions were all rejected.
One, introduced by Rep. Gabe Amo, D-R.I., would raise the top income tax rate. Amo said it would “make the rich pay their fair share.”
Trump last week had expressed openness to raising income taxes on top earners.
“Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!” he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
However, he warned that “even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the RICH” would cause Democrats to “go around screaming ‘Read my lips’” — referencing the famous quote by George Bush.
With the bill not making it out of the Budget Committee, it is likely that changes will have to be made to bring it up again and advance it.
