Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said on Friday Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York should “fill out a hurt feelings report” over the Senate’s decision to cut back on the state and local tax cut deduction (SALT).
The House of Representatives passed the measure with an expanded cap on the allowable deduction for state and local taxes by one vote on May 22, a provision Lawler insisted be in the legislation to secure his vote. Kennedy told “The Faulkner Focus” host Harris Faulkner that Lawler needed to decide whether the deduction’s demise warranted killing the bill and allowing the 2017 tax cuts to expire.
“Our quarterbacks are John Thune and Mike Crapo – they are rock stars trying to make everybody happy. It can’t be done. We have cussed and discussed and rediscussed. We need to start voting,” Kennedy told Faulkner. “Everybody needs to adult real hard and the jackassery has to stop. I have encouraged John and Mike to tell everyone look, we’ll start voting tomorrow at noon. If you are not happy, offer an amendment. We’ll have a full amendment process.”
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“But here is the bottom line: In any legislation of this magnitude, some people are just going to have to settle for a ham and egg sandwich without the ham,” Kennedy continued. “That’s just the nature of the beast. And I think that if you put everybody to the test and say look, this is why god made votes. It’s time, vote, I think the bill will pass.”
President Donald Trump in May told Lawler to back off on his demands over the SALT deduction. Under the 2017 tax cuts, a cap of $10,000 on state and local taxes was imposed, with the House version of the reconciliation bill increasing it to $40,000. The Senate pared the cap back down to $10,000 in its initial revisions to the legislation.
Many House Republicans have expressed anger and disappointment over Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s rulings that have stricken dozens of provisions from the Senate version of the reconciliation bill. Kennedy said Lawler’s demands were “unacceptable.”
“I love Congressman Lawler, I respect Congressman Lawler, but he and about four of his colleagues are demanding that the American people spend over $300 billion – not million, $300 billion to make them happy and that is unacceptable,” Kennedy said. “If the congressman wants to vote against the bill, have at it. But it is time to vote. I think the change – I wouldn’t make any changes to the SALT provisions. I wouldn’t. If you are unhappy with that, vote against it or fill out a hurt feelings report. But it is time to vote.”
“They want us to spend over $300 billion to make them happy and they say they will vote no if we don’t,” Kennedy added. “I say let’s don’t do it and if they want to vote for the largest tax increase in American history, they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do but they better be prepared for the consequences.”
Lawler did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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