Mike Johnson hails 'progress' toward SALT deal

The White House is close to clinching an agreement on the state and local tax deduction after a last-ditch flurry of negotiations with blue-state House GOP holdouts and Senate Republicans, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the talks.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is brokering the politically complex deal that is key to unlocking the GOP megabill, will attend Senate Republicans lunch later today, according to a another person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday morning that there was “a lot of progress yesterday” at an evening meeting of SALT Republicans and Treasury officials and that he expected the issue to get "resolved in a manner that everybody can live with.”

“No one will be delighted about it, but that's kind of the way this works around here," he said. “But the other issues [with the megabill], I think, will be resolved, hopefully today, and we can move forward."

However, one hard-line SALT holdout, New York Rep. Nick LaLota, said: “If there was a deal, I’m not a part of it.”

LaLota said he has been told the prospective deal would maintain the House-passed cap of $40,000 for five years before reverting to the current $10,000 cap.

Three people granted anonymity to describe the framework ahead of its final approval said negotiators have circled on a $240 billion price tag for the possible agreement — roughly $100 billion less than the House-passed SALT provision. But it still needs to be sold to GOP senators at their Friday lunch.

“I never thought that we’d get a deal that all of them would be happy with or accept,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who has been brokering an agreement with the House holdouts. “My whole point was just trying to get enough good in it that it’s hard for them to vote no.”

Jordain Carney and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.