President Trump’s “One, Big Beautiful Bill” is temporarily stalled while negotiations on SALT deduction caps and Medicaid reform continue as you read this email. Here’s the breakdown:
SALT
The State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction permits taxpayers to deduct taxes paid to state and local governments when itemizing on federal income tax filings. This particularly benefits individuals in blue states with high tax burdens. The SALT cap is a guardrail against states — especially those like California and New York — from doubling down on wasteful and harmful spending.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) capped the SALT deduction at $10,000 per year. Currently, Congress is debating raising the cap for both individuals and married couples.. But there are still Republican members of Congress coming out in opposition and saying it is not enough and they want to eliminate the cap. The $10,000 SALT deduction cap is set to expire at the end of this year.
Medicaid Reform:
Reforming Medicaid is not about removing people from Medicaid, it’s about common sense changes that ensure we are serving the people who need it most and people get the care they deserve.
One challenge for Medicaid is that Obamacare created a new eligibility category: able-bodied, childless adults. To entice states to adopt this expansion, the federal government raised its share of how much cost it will cover to 90 percent. While conservatives would like to see Congress make the match rate for able-bodied, childless adults be the same as the standard match rate (typically 55-65%), this change is still being debated.
However, Congress is expected to include work requirements for able-bodied enrollees as a condition of receiving Medicaid benefits. Medicaid was designed to serve women and children in poverty and was meant to be temporary. This would help the program refocus toward the populations it was created to serve, and helps people to find the dignity of work.
For a deeper dive into Medicaid, you can read this analysis by Nina Schaefer, Director of the Center for Health and Welfare Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its disastrous Green New Deal subsidies have been a burden on American taxpayers since its inception. The current reconciliation bill repeals or phases out a number of these subsidies. Some House conservatives have called for faster phase-outs or full IRA repeal and negotiations on these provisions will continue over the weekend.
The IRA’s subsidies are pushing our electricity grid towards crisis and Members should use this opportunity to stand with American workers, not with the renewable energy lobby and other special interests.
Check out the Heritage Action one pager on the IRA for more information.
What Does This Mean?
Due to the status of the negotiations, the House Budget Committee was unable to vote on the combined text of the bill on the first attempt. While this is less than ideal, the “One, Big Beautiful Bill” is not in danger. Members have said that they will be working around the clock to negotiate a compromise and ensure the bill works in the best interests for the American people — in accordance with President Trump’s mandate.
Next Steps:
Once these disagreements are resolved, the House Budget Committee will complete their markup on the original text, followed by a Rules Committee markup where the agreed upon changes will be implemented. At that point the final negotiated package will receive a vote on the House floor before being sent over to the Senate. From there, it will almost certainly be amended to comply with the Senate’s unique rules (the “Byrd Rule”) and then sent back to the House once again. This process is far from over; it’s crucial that we stay engaged in the process.
What Can I Do?
Heritage Action has created a one-stop toolkit for both first-time and seasoned activists to hold Congress accountable and ensure Congress delivers on President Trump’s policies.
>>> Visit our new Toolkit on Reconciliation HERE<<<
