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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, turning from markets to

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Speaker 1: the nation's capital. In fighting between House Republicans threatening to

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Speaker 1: delay a much anticipated tax bill, the key issue salt

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Speaker 1: cap increases. One man the center of all of that,

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Speaker 1: among others, Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. The congressman

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Speaker 1: joined us now from Capitol Hill for more. Congressman, Welcome

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Speaker 1: back to Bloomberg Survevance. Sir, it's good to see you again.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about progress made this week. Speak of Johnson

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Speaker 1: keeps saying we're getting closer and closer. What's your assessment

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Speaker 1: of how much progress we've made so far this week?

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Speaker 3: Well, finally this week we had the opportunity to sit

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Speaker 3: down and go through real numbers and start to have

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Speaker 3: a negotiation. And I think that was long overdue. We

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Speaker 3: had been pushing for months to have that conversation with

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Speaker 3: the Ways and Means Chairman, with the Speaker, and so

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Speaker 3: we finally began that process.

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Speaker 2: And obviously, you.

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Speaker 3: Know this is something that's going to have to be

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Speaker 3: negotiated over the weekend to get to hopefully an agreement.

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Speaker 3: When it comes to the issue of salt.

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Speaker 1: We understand the proposal a tripling of the deduction to

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Speaker 1: thirty thousand. Could you give us a sense on how

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Speaker 1: far apart you are right now?

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Speaker 2: Well, there's a number of issues.

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Speaker 3: Number one, the marriage penalty and eliminating that for those

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Speaker 3: filing jointly. Number two, you know, there is real concern

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Speaker 3: about reverting to a ten thousand dollars cap.

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Speaker 2: Which none of us support. That is a real challenge.

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Speaker 3: Number Three, the fact is, these income limits are a

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Speaker 3: problem four hundred thousand. While it may sound like a

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Speaker 3: lot in some areas, in an area like mine, you

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Speaker 3: know a cop and a teacher who are married and

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Speaker 3: you know have a combined income. So the fact is

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Speaker 3: we have high property taxes coupled with high income taxes,

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Speaker 3: and you'll blow right past the thirty thousand dollars cap

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Speaker 3: without a problem. You look at my district, three of

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Speaker 3: the four counties that I represent are in the top

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Speaker 3: sixteen highest property tax counties in America. And so there's

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Speaker 3: a real issue here in terms of the numbers, and

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Speaker 3: so we're working through it. You know, I've read the

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Speaker 3: art of the deal. I'm not going to negotiate in public.

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Speaker 3: But the fact is that you know, we need to

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Speaker 3: make some significant concessions to get to a number.

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Speaker 4: Congressman, what would you like to see cut to offset

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Speaker 4: some of the increases to the salt tax deduction because

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Speaker 4: ultimately sell cap, because that's a real concern right now

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Speaker 4: for market is how much does that alone increase the deficit?

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Speaker 2: Well, a few things.

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Speaker 3: Number One, any cap is a savings okay, because the

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Speaker 3: fact is that the cap consalt expires at the end

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Speaker 3: of the year, So we are actually giving them a

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Speaker 3: pay for by agreeing to a cap. That's number one,

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Speaker 3: and people should recognize that as part of these negotiations.

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Speaker 3: Number Two, there's a number of levers that can be

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Speaker 3: dealt with here in terms of savings versus adjustments within

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Speaker 3: the tax code. That's what we're talking about. We're waiting

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Speaker 3: to hear back from the Speaker and then be able

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Speaker 3: to make an honest determination as to what we can

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Speaker 3: get to.

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Speaker 4: There's also this issue, Congressman, that as a debate has

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Speaker 4: raged on, there's been an argument that you have pioneered

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Speaker 4: saying that moderates make the majority for Republicans and that

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Speaker 4: you need to be able to punch above your weight

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Speaker 4: because without you, they wouldn't have the position that they

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Speaker 4: actually have. How much is this sort of setting the

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Speaker 4: stage for what's to come. How much do you see

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Speaker 4: this as a theme that we're going to hear about

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Speaker 4: quite a bit as we had to the midterms.

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Speaker 3: Well, listen, we have a two hundred and twenty seat

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Speaker 3: majority and three of us one districts that Kamala Harris won.

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Speaker 3: You lose the three of us and you're in the

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Speaker 3: minority very quickly. So you know, look, I think the

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Speaker 3: reality of this is math. And I certainly respect all

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Speaker 3: of my colleagues. They're all here to represent their districts

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Speaker 3: as am I and my district has different needs than

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Speaker 3: some of my colleagues who are in safer seats, who

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Speaker 3: are in more Republican seats. That's just a reality of life.

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Speaker 3: And so to me, this is about a compromise. None

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Speaker 3: of us are going to get everything we want in

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Speaker 3: this bill or any bill, but all of us have

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Speaker 3: to find a way to work together to keep the

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Speaker 3: majority and make sure that we're delivering for the American

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Speaker 3: people and our districts. And that's what I'm doing in

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Speaker 3: fighting for this issue, fighting to protect medicaid.

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Speaker 2: I have one of the highest.

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Speaker 3: District with one of the highest number of recipients of Medicaid.

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Speaker 2: There are people who rely.

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Speaker 3: On these critical programs, and I'm doing everything I can

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Speaker 3: throughout this process to protect that, including blocking any changes

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Speaker 3: to f MAP, per capita caps, block grants, dish cuts.

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Speaker 3: We've been able to do that throughout this process and

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Speaker 3: make sure that those who rely on these programs receive

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Speaker 3: the benefits that they need, while making sure that we

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Speaker 3: eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, prevent illegal immigrants from receiving

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Speaker 3: Medicaid benefits, make sure that able bodied adults without dependence

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Speaker 3: are working, we're going to school, and making sure that

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Speaker 3: those who are no longer eligible are not continuing to

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Speaker 3: receive benefits. Those are common sense reforms that the vast

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Speaker 3: majority of the American people's support.

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Speaker 1: A Congressman, you mentioned the out of the deal. Let's

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Speaker 1: talk about the author of the out of the deal.

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Speaker 1: The President's on its way back to Washington. Do you

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Speaker 1: have plans to speak to him and you have a

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Speaker 1: decent sense of what his position is.

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Speaker 3: I will be reaching out to connect with him, for sure.

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Speaker 3: I think he obviously had a very successful trip in

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Speaker 3: the Middle East, brought back significant investment into the United States.

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Speaker 3: In agreements with Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Cutter, and that

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Speaker 3: obviously bodes well for the American economy as we move forward.

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Speaker 3: So this was a great trip for the President. As

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Speaker 3: chair of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, certainly

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Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to getting a readout of more details

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Speaker 3: on what occurred on the trip. But I think it

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Speaker 3: was a big win for the President and so he

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Speaker 3: comes back obviously on the prespice of getting you know,

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Speaker 3: one big beautiful bill passed, and so we have a

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Speaker 3: little bit of work to do still. But I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, it's been a very good week for the President.

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Speaker 1: I know you've been up all night. I just wanted

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Speaker 1: to squeeze in one more question that I think is

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Speaker 1: relevant to a lot of our audience. You've co sponsored

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Speaker 1: the Trust Act Trusting Congress Act to band stock trading

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Speaker 1: in Congress. Can I just say, Congressmen, we all find

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Speaker 1: it absolutely ridiculous that people in Congress have looser regulations

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Speaker 1: restrictions to trade stocks that we do as financial journalists. Congressmen,

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Speaker 1: can we actually do something about that sometime soon?

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Speaker 2: Look, I am in full support.

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Speaker 3: The fact is you're here to serve if you want

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Speaker 3: to make money leave you know. This to me is

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Speaker 3: a very common sense reform to make sure that members

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Speaker 3: of Congress or their spouses. We've seen some spouses who

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Speaker 3: are prolific traders in recent years. The fact is they

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Speaker 3: should not be benefiting from inside knowledge or information gleaned

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Speaker 3: from meetings they have, committee hearings they hold, or legislation.

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Speaker 2: That is pending.

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Speaker 3: And it's just a reality of life that anyone in

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Speaker 3: this position is provided with more information than the average person,

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Speaker 3: and therefore it is imperative to make sure that members

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Speaker 3: of Congress or their spouses are not benefiting from that information,

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Speaker 3: and all of their assets should be put in a

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Speaker 3: blind trust period.

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Speaker 1: If that that could have tried inlet should start a

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Speaker 1: hedge fund. Congressman, appreciate your time, sir, Gonna have a

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Speaker 1: busy weekend. I'm sure let's hopefully catch up against soon.

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Speaker 1: Congressman might lalla there