House GOP’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Rebels Still Holding Out After Trump’s High-Stakes Capitol Hill Visit

(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

A group of House Republicans threatening to withhold their vote from President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” are standing firm even after the president visited Capitol Hill in an effort to persuade rebels to get on board Tuesday morning.

Speaking with reporters next to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA),  Trump boasted “I think we have unbelievable unity. I think we’re going to have a great victory. I think this was a great session.”

Then in a meeting with the Republican conference, the president urged a group of blue state Republicans holding out for a measure increasing the cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction to get on board and fight for the SALT deduction later, even going so far as to tell one of the holdouts, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), that “I know your district better than you do, if you lose because of SALT you were going to lose anyway.”

Nevertheless, in a statement signed by Reps. Lawler, Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Tom Kean, Jr. (R-NJ), and Young Kim (R-CA), the SALT caucus appeared to indicate that they intended to continue to stand in the way of the president’s signature legislation unless they get a better offer.

“We share President Trump’s call for unity within the House Republican conference. A fair SALT deduction is a matter of fundamental fairness for the hardworking families we represent, including the many who proudly support President Trump and voted for him, in part, because he promised to restore SALT,” read the statement. “We hope his remarks today motivate the Speaker to advance a SALT proposal that delivers meaningful relief for our middle-class constituents, as we have worked in good faith with House Leadership for more than a year. Our states are donor states, consistently subsidizing so-called fiscally responsible states.”

Johnson has offered the SALT Caucus a $40,000 cap with no marriage penalty.