House Republican revolt kills New Yorkers' coveted tax bill
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Reps. Mike Lawler, Anthony D'Esposito and Nick LaLota. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
Fresh off a bruising special election loss, House Republicans from New York suffered yet another setback on Wednesday with the defeat of their long sought-after tax bill.
Why it matters: Those lawmakers are trying to notch a win before facing an uphill battle to defend their party's narrow majority in November.
Driving the news: A procedural vote to advance the bill failed after 18 conservative Republicans joined with Democrats in voting against it.
- The bill would have raised the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap for married couples from $10,000 to $20,000.
- The vote was the result of a compromise with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in exchange for the New Yorkers not blocking a bipartisan tax bill that didn't include SALT reform.
Zoom out: The policy disproportionately affects filers in high-tax blue states like New York, but it also mostly benefits wealthier households – leading to opposition from lawmakers across the political spectrum.
- "Our tax code is rigged for the wealthiest households & corporations. The SALT bill would make it worse," Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) said in a post on X.
- The $10,000 cap was placed by a 2017 tax bill passed by House Republicans and signed by former President Trump.
What they're saying: Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.) said in a statement he is "frustrated" by the bill's failure, blaming "New York Democrats and their allies who are hellbent on scoring political points at the expense of Empire State taxpayers."
- Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said: "Everybody has a perspective. Ours is, by no fault of their own, New York taxpayers are overtaxed and they deserve the same middle class tax relief as every American."
The other side: "This majority is so incompetent they couldn't even manufacture a fake vote to pretend New York Republicans are good at legislating," Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said in a post on X.
- McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, added, "They just lost their sixth rule vote this congress after a half-assed fix to SALT (a problem they created in the first place) failed. Embarrassing!"
What's next: Democratic challengers to blue state House Republicans are already using the vote as fodder.
- Former Rep. Mondaire Jones said in a statement that Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) "can't even get a vote on an incremental change when his party controls the House."
- George Whitesides, who is running to challenge Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), said in a statement: "Yet again, Rep. Mike Garcia is unable to deliver results for this district."
