House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing a last-minute rebellion from conservatives on Republicans’ megabill, with a deal on a key tax deduction with blue-state Republicans and a lack of progress on settling other key provisions frustrating hard-liners.
“I think actually we’re further away from a deal because that SALT cap increase, I think, upset a lot of conservatives,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the House Freedom Caucus chair, said in an interview on Newsmax on Wednesday morning, referring to the state and local tax deduction. “The conservatives are pushing for some balancing spending reductions.”
Johnson signaled Tuesday he wanted to call a vote on the bill as soon as Wednesday evening. A person with direct knowledge of the talks who was granted anonymity to describe them said, “There is currently a zero percent chance this thing moves today,” adding that leaders “walked away from a deal last night and even rolled back progress made over the weekend.”
In a brief interview Wednesday morning, Johnson said “there is a chance for a vote today” when asked about the comments by Harris and other conservatives. He said he continues to talk with the conservative holdouts.
