House Republicans unveil tax bill, plan hearings for rest of Trump's agenda

The House Ways and Means Committee unveiled a portion of its sweeping tax legislation set to be the centerpiece of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” teeing up the final sprint to ram the president’s agenda through the House. 

Preventing Mr. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from expiring at the end of this year has been a key objective for congressional Republicans, who have warned that dropping the ball on the tax portion of the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process would lead to a tax hike for many Americans. 

The panel is set to hold the bill’s hearing on Tuesday. 

Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, Missouri Republican, lauded the president’s first-term tax cuts, saying “pro-family, pro-worker tax provisions” were at the core of Mr. Trump’s economic agenda. 

“Ways and Means Republicans have spent two years preparing for this moment, and we will deliver for the American people,” the congressman said in a statement.

While the legislation, which was released Friday night, does largely extend the president’s first-term tax cuts, it doesn’t include some of Mr. Trump’s key policy desires, nor does it tackle more contentious issues in the tax code that have threatened to derail his agenda.

Absent from the current proposed measure are changes to the state and local tax deduction, or SALT, caps. Blue-state Republicans have demanded that the current cap of $10,000 be increased in exchange for their support of the broader reconciliation package. 

However, the latest offering from the tax-writing panel to boost the cap to $30,000 was rejected by New York Republican Reps. Mike Lawler, Elise Stefanik, Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino.

The number they want has become a floating target. Earlier this year, Mr. Lawler introduced legislation that would crank up the cap to $100,000 for individual filers and $200,000 for joint filers, numbers that other Republicans have largely scoffed at.

The New York lawmakers said in a joint statement that they had negotiated in good faith to get an increase to the cap, “yet with no notice or agreement, the Speaker and the House Ways and Means Committee unilaterally proposed a flat $30,000 SALT cap — an amount they already knew would fall short of earning our support.”
 
They added, “It’s not just insulting — it risks derailing President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Also missing from the legislation are some of the president’s tax relief desires that he unveiled on the campaign trail, including no taxes on tips, overtime and social security, plus tax breaks on auto loan interest payments and tax credits for family caregivers. 

Those issues are likely to come up during the panel’s hearing next week. 

While those key markers are absent, there are tweaks to other key provisions. The standard deduction for individual filers would go up by $1,000, and $3,000 for married couples. The legislation also hikes the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,500 over three years, then drops the credit to $2,000 after that window elapses. It also cranks up the estate and gift tax exemption to $15 million.

Meanwhile, both the House Agriculture and Energy and Commerce committees teed up their respective markup hearings for Tuesday, too, though neither committee has unveiled its legislation.

Those two committees have been tasked with finding the lion’s share of spending cuts to help pay for the tax portion of the reconciliation package. The Energy and Commerce Committee has to find at least $880 billion in savings over the next decade, while the Ag panel has been instructed to find at least $230 billion. 

House Republicans hope to cut at least $2 trillion, which, coupled with an expected $2.5 trillion in economic growth, would ideally pay for the $4.5 trillion price tag attached to the tax legislation. 

However, both committees are dealing with contentious policy issues that could see them fall below their respective spending cut goals. 

In the Agriculture Committee, lawmakers are trying to coalesce on finding savings in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, while Republicans on the Energy and Commerce panel, which oversees Medicaid, are working to find the best path forward for proposed cuts to the health care program. 

Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, Kentucky Republican, said in a statement that his panel’s main goal is “delivering President Trump’s agenda and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse so the most vulnerable Americans can reliably access the care they need.”