Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, turning from markets to
Speaker 1: the nation's capital. In fighting between House Republicans threatening to
Speaker 1: delay a much anticipated tax bill, the key issue salt
Speaker 1: cap increases. One man the center of all of that,
Speaker 1: among others, Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. The congressman
Speaker 1: joined us now from Capitol Hill for more. Congressman, Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Bloomberg Survevance. Sir, it's good to see you again.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about progress made this week. Speak of Johnson
Speaker 1: keeps saying we're getting closer and closer. What's your assessment
Speaker 1: of how much progress we've made so far this week?
Speaker 3: Well, finally this week we had the opportunity to sit
Speaker 3: down and go through real numbers and start to have
Speaker 3: a negotiation. And I think that was long overdue. We
Speaker 3: had been pushing for months to have that conversation with
Speaker 3: the Ways and Means Chairman, with the Speaker, and so
Speaker 3: we finally began that process.
Speaker 2: And obviously, you.
Speaker 3: Know this is something that's going to have to be
Speaker 3: negotiated over the weekend to get to hopefully an agreement.
Speaker 3: When it comes to the issue of salt.
Speaker 1: We understand the proposal a tripling of the deduction to
Speaker 1: thirty thousand. Could you give us a sense on how
Speaker 1: far apart you are right now?
Speaker 2: Well, there's a number of issues.
Speaker 3: Number one, the marriage penalty and eliminating that for those
Speaker 3: filing jointly. Number two, you know, there is real concern
Speaker 3: about reverting to a ten thousand dollars cap.
Speaker 2: Which none of us support. That is a real challenge.
Speaker 3: Number Three, the fact is, these income limits are a
Speaker 3: problem four hundred thousand. While it may sound like a
Speaker 3: lot in some areas, in an area like mine, you
Speaker 3: know a cop and a teacher who are married and
Speaker 3: you know have a combined income. So the fact is
Speaker 3: we have high property taxes coupled with high income taxes,
Speaker 3: and you'll blow right past the thirty thousand dollars cap
Speaker 3: without a problem. You look at my district, three of
Speaker 3: the four counties that I represent are in the top
Speaker 3: sixteen highest property tax counties in America. And so there's
Speaker 3: a real issue here in terms of the numbers, and
Speaker 3: so we're working through it. You know, I've read the
Speaker 3: art of the deal. I'm not going to negotiate in public.
Speaker 3: But the fact is that you know, we need to
Speaker 3: make some significant concessions to get to a number.
Speaker 4: Congressman, what would you like to see cut to offset
Speaker 4: some of the increases to the salt tax deduction because
Speaker 4: ultimately sell cap, because that's a real concern right now
Speaker 4: for market is how much does that alone increase the deficit?
Speaker 2: Well, a few things.
Speaker 3: Number One, any cap is a savings okay, because the
Speaker 3: fact is that the cap consalt expires at the end
Speaker 3: of the year, So we are actually giving them a
Speaker 3: pay for by agreeing to a cap. That's number one,
Speaker 3: and people should recognize that as part of these negotiations.
Speaker 3: Number Two, there's a number of levers that can be
Speaker 3: dealt with here in terms of savings versus adjustments within
Speaker 3: the tax code. That's what we're talking about. We're waiting
Speaker 3: to hear back from the Speaker and then be able
Speaker 3: to make an honest determination as to what we can
Speaker 3: get to.
Speaker 4: There's also this issue, Congressman, that as a debate has
Speaker 4: raged on, there's been an argument that you have pioneered
Speaker 4: saying that moderates make the majority for Republicans and that
Speaker 4: you need to be able to punch above your weight
Speaker 4: because without you, they wouldn't have the position that they
Speaker 4: actually have. How much is this sort of setting the
Speaker 4: stage for what's to come. How much do you see
Speaker 4: this as a theme that we're going to hear about
Speaker 4: quite a bit as we had to the midterms.
Speaker 3: Well, listen, we have a two hundred and twenty seat
Speaker 3: majority and three of us one districts that Kamala Harris won.
Speaker 3: You lose the three of us and you're in the
Speaker 3: minority very quickly. So you know, look, I think the
Speaker 3: reality of this is math. And I certainly respect all
Speaker 3: of my colleagues. They're all here to represent their districts
Speaker 3: as am I and my district has different needs than
Speaker 3: some of my colleagues who are in safer seats, who
Speaker 3: are in more Republican seats. That's just a reality of life.
Speaker 3: And so to me, this is about a compromise. None
Speaker 3: of us are going to get everything we want in
Speaker 3: this bill or any bill, but all of us have
Speaker 3: to find a way to work together to keep the
Speaker 3: majority and make sure that we're delivering for the American
Speaker 3: people and our districts. And that's what I'm doing in
Speaker 3: fighting for this issue, fighting to protect medicaid.
Speaker 2: I have one of the highest.
Speaker 3: District with one of the highest number of recipients of Medicaid.
Speaker 2: There are people who rely.
Speaker 3: On these critical programs, and I'm doing everything I can
Speaker 3: throughout this process to protect that, including blocking any changes
Speaker 3: to f MAP, per capita caps, block grants, dish cuts.
Speaker 3: We've been able to do that throughout this process and
Speaker 3: make sure that those who rely on these programs receive
Speaker 3: the benefits that they need, while making sure that we
Speaker 3: eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, prevent illegal immigrants from receiving
Speaker 3: Medicaid benefits, make sure that able bodied adults without dependence
Speaker 3: are working, we're going to school, and making sure that
Speaker 3: those who are no longer eligible are not continuing to
Speaker 3: receive benefits. Those are common sense reforms that the vast
Speaker 3: majority of the American people's support.
Speaker 1: A Congressman, you mentioned the out of the deal. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the author of the out of the deal.
Speaker 1: The President's on its way back to Washington. Do you
Speaker 1: have plans to speak to him and you have a
Speaker 1: decent sense of what his position is.
Speaker 3: I will be reaching out to connect with him, for sure.
Speaker 3: I think he obviously had a very successful trip in
Speaker 3: the Middle East, brought back significant investment into the United States.
Speaker 3: In agreements with Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Cutter, and that
Speaker 3: obviously bodes well for the American economy as we move forward.
Speaker 3: So this was a great trip for the President. As
Speaker 3: chair of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, certainly
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to getting a readout of more details
Speaker 3: on what occurred on the trip. But I think it
Speaker 3: was a big win for the President and so he
Speaker 3: comes back obviously on the prespice of getting you know,
Speaker 3: one big beautiful bill passed, and so we have a
Speaker 3: little bit of work to do still. But I think,
Speaker 3: you know, it's been a very good week for the President.
Speaker 1: I know you've been up all night. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to squeeze in one more question that I think is
Speaker 1: relevant to a lot of our audience. You've co sponsored
Speaker 1: the Trust Act Trusting Congress Act to band stock trading
Speaker 1: in Congress. Can I just say, Congressmen, we all find
Speaker 1: it absolutely ridiculous that people in Congress have looser regulations
Speaker 1: restrictions to trade stocks that we do as financial journalists. Congressmen,
Speaker 1: can we actually do something about that sometime soon?
Speaker 2: Look, I am in full support.
Speaker 3: The fact is you're here to serve if you want
Speaker 3: to make money leave you know. This to me is
Speaker 3: a very common sense reform to make sure that members
Speaker 3: of Congress or their spouses. We've seen some spouses who
Speaker 3: are prolific traders in recent years. The fact is they
Speaker 3: should not be benefiting from inside knowledge or information gleaned
Speaker 3: from meetings they have, committee hearings they hold, or legislation.
Speaker 2: That is pending.
Speaker 3: And it's just a reality of life that anyone in
Speaker 3: this position is provided with more information than the average person,
Speaker 3: and therefore it is imperative to make sure that members
Speaker 3: of Congress or their spouses are not benefiting from that information,
Speaker 3: and all of their assets should be put in a
Speaker 3: blind trust period.
Speaker 1: If that that could have tried inlet should start a
Speaker 1: hedge fund. Congressman, appreciate your time, sir, Gonna have a
Speaker 1: busy weekend. I'm sure let's hopefully catch up against soon.
Speaker 1: Congressman might lalla there