The "big beautiful" budget bill will eventually pass the House, but "it's not going anywhere today," after an agreement was reached to raise the state and local tax (SALT) cap, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., told Newsmax on Wednesday.
"This bill actually got worse overnight," Harris told "Wake Up America." "There is no way it passes today. We may need a couple of weeks to iron everything out."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had said Tuesday the bill will be ready for a vote by Thursday.
However, he told CNN on Wednesday that an agreement has been reached to raise the deduction cap to $40,000 from $10,000 for a decade, Bloomberg reported.
"I think the SALT caucus, as they call themselves, it's not everything they wanted, but I think they know what a huge improvement that is for their constituents, and it gives them a lot to go home and talk about," the speaker added.
New York GOP Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, and Elise Stefanik, along with Reps. Tom Kean, R-N.J., and Young Kim, R-Calif., have threatened to reject a tax package unless it meets their demands on the deduction.
"I think, actually, we [are] further away from a deal because that SALT cap increase, I think, upset a lot of conservatives," Harris told Newsmax. "Again, the conservatives are pushing for some balancing spending reductions. We stopped negotiating just before midnight because we had a deal that was then pulled off the table."
The midnight deal, said Harris, called to end "waste, fraud, and abuse" in Medicaid.
"The vast majority of Americans are OK with that, and again, winding down more of those 'Green New Scam' energy subsidies," Harris said. "Those two things are pretty essential to get this across the finish line. And I'm a little disappointed. Again, it was pulled off the table after we had agreement."
Time is running out on the first effort to get the bill passed, the congressman added.
He also predicted, when the measure comes to the House floor for a vote, it will fail.
"Hopefully, it will fail in a way that keeps the bill, keeps the negotiations in the bill alive, but it's not going anywhere today," Harris said.
Meanwhile, Harris said he has no idea why any Republican would oppose killing the tax cuts involved in the climate-based Green New Deal.
"Now there are some who have heartburn over reducing this grifting by companies, a lot of them foreign companies [that are] taking tens of billions of Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and putting them into their accounts instead of lowering energy bills like we should be doing," Harris said.
But the congressman said he thinks voters will become more frustrated about how Congress acts than the infighting among Republicans over the budget bill.
"The bottom line is, they should be frustrated that Congress got us into a debt crisis, with the Moody's downgrade last week, and Congress is unwilling to do something about it at this point," Harris said.
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.