1 month ago
6
President Donald Trump touted legislation in the one "Big, Beautiful Bill" on spending and tax policy as he spoke to House Republicans on the Hill Tuesday, while he laid into GOP holdouts who are still opposing the bill.
Speaking about the bill, Trump said that passing it would mean a massive tax cut to Americans, as the bill extends his 2017 tax cuts as well as sets in stone multiple other tax cut policies that the president ran on, including no tax on tips and no tax on overtime.
He also laid into Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who he referred to as a "grandstander" and said that he should be voted out of office, according to Punchbowl reporter Jake Sherman.
During the meeting, he called out Massie specifically and said that other Republicans should not be "grandstanding" like Massie does. The congressman from Kentucky has been opposed to some of Trump's policies before when it comes to fiscal policy. Trump has also previously called for Massie to be primaried.
In addition to Massie, Trump called out Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on the subject of State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction policy in the large bill. SALT deductions allow for taxpayers who pay both federal and state taxes to deduct state tax from their income reported to the government. However, this can disproportionately help some Democrat states that have higher state income taxes, such as New York.
Lawler, who is in New York's 17th district, which has swung back and forth between the parties, may be vulnerable during the midterms, and if the SALT deductions are capped, meaning higher taxes for New York residents, he could get voted out.
Trump said he did not want to raise the cap on the SALT deductions, because it could benefit Democratic governors, Sherman reported. Trump then directed his comments at Lawler, calling him out specifically, and said, “I know your district better than you do, if you lose because of SALT you were going to lose anyway.”
Lawler has been pushing to raise the caps on the deductions as the GOP has been crafting the bill. The $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions from federal taxes was established by Trump’s 2017 tax legislation. Currently, the proposed bill would raise that limit to $30,000. However, Trump said he was thinking about getting rid of the cap increase, according to MarketWatch.
During the meeting, Trump pushed for the entire House GOP to round up the votes to get the bill passed, but added that the GOP should not "F*ck around with Medicaid" and should focus on eliminating waste fraud, and abuse in the program.
English (US) ·