Club, Lawler tag each other in tax battle
Club buys airtime, Lawler rebuts with Trump support on SALT
WASHINGTON _ The Club for Growth and New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler went back and forth Wednesday as pressure builds at the Capitol over extending the 2017 tax cuts.
Club for Growth President David McIntosh announced Wednesday the conservative group would begin airing an ad urging New Yorkers to lobby Lawler to “extend and expand Trump’s tax cuts” in the coming days on Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax and Fox News Sunday.
Lawler, who is eyeing a possible run for governor of New York, has been a stalwart on the Hill for reinstating state and local tax (SALT) deductions in the tax plan – something removed in 2017 which hit northeast states hard.
He parried the shot from the Club Wednesday noting Trump’s own support for SALT.
“I couldn’t agree with their ad more — which is precisely why I’m fighting to lift the cap on SALT, a key priority of President Trump,” Lawler told 24sight News.
The House Ways and Means panel released its version of the sweeping tax and “megabill” with other top White House priorities, which would increase the
Lawler and a number of other Northeast Republicans in the “SALT Caucus” have been withholding support unless that number moves up to a $62,000 deduction for single filers and $124,000 deduction for people filing jointly, The Hill reported.
But McIntosh said Wednesday, “holding up the bill does more harm to New Yorkers than SALT does.”
Even with a pair of recent deaths of House Democratic lawmakers, House Republicans continue to hold only a narrow majority in the House – one which has given groups of lawmakers, whatever their ideology, greater power over negotiations.