A group of centrist Republicans staged a short-lived rebellion on the House floor on Tuesday, threatening to halt action in a bid to gain leverage over the bipartisan tax deal making its way through the lower chamber. 

Four New York Republicans threatened to tank a procedural vote to protest GOP leaders’ decision not to include relief for state and local taxes paid, known as SALT, in the tax bill under consideration in the House. Republican leaders kept the vote, which was for a rule on unrelated immigration legislation, open for more than 30 minutes, far longer than the five minutes it was initially allotted, as they met with the holdouts in the House chamber to persuade them to change their votes. 

The Republicans — Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Nick LaLota (R-NY), and Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) — initially voted “no” on the rule, which, if successful, would have effectively stalled action on the House floor.

But after a tense conversation on the House floor with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other GOP leadership members, the four New York Republicans flipped their votes to allow the rule to advance. 

Although the details of the conversation are not known, participants said that negotiations were “ongoing” as they look for a way to include some policy provisions in the tax legislation. 

One such provision being pushed by the centrist lawmakers is a bill proposed by Lawler that would raise the federal deduction for SALT for married couples, which was capped at $10,000 by the 2017 Republican tax overhaul.

“What we’re talking about is the Lawler bill, which will simply remove the marriage penalty from the SALT cap, meaning that cap is currently $10,000, and this would extend to $20,000 per married couple,” LaLota told reporters. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

LaLota said talks would continue to “see if there’s a way to move forward” with that legislation “either in the current tax bill” or as a separate bill “that’s parallel to it.” Other details are under negotiation as well, including whether the tax bill would be brought to the floor through open or closed rules, according to the New York Republican. 

Members of the so-called SALT Caucus are scheduled to meet with Johnson and members of the Ways and Means Committee and Freedom Caucus on Tuesday evening to continue discussions. 

The politics surrounding the tax legislation are complicated, and the Tuesday afternoon rules vote on the immigration policy bills shows that it is now bleeding into other legislative issues.

Some Republicans in high-tax states won close elections, in part, by campaigning on the issue of raising or eliminating the SALT cap, and they are upset that such changes were not included in the bipartisan tax bill, which cleared the Ways and Means Committee in an overwhelming 40-3 vote. The bill would enhance the child tax credit and reinstate two major business investment tax breaks that have lapsed.

But complicating matters is that including an increase in the SALT cap could jeopardize support from more conservative members. That’s because they see it as largely benefiting wealthy people in blue states and because it would add significantly to the cost to the Treasury of the bill.

But SALT isn’t the only political obstacle in front of the tax legislation. It is also facing some opposition from the Right as some Republicans are upset that U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants might be able to benefit from the child tax credit, a line of criticism that the bill’s Republican authors have rejected on the grounds that the terms are the same as instituted by the 2017 GOP overhaul. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who was present for conversations between the New York Republicans GOP leadership, expressed his opposition to that provision.

Roy said he would continue conversations on those concerns as well. Notably, Roy did not vote against the rule on Tuesday but said he “held my vote back for a little bit in somewhat solidarity” with the centrist Republicans. 

“We’re having conversations about some of their concerns and seeing if we can get a little Kumbaya,” he said. 

Advancing a rule is a procedural move that is typically voted on along party lines and rarely fails on the House floor. However, House conservatives have weaponized the procedure several times over the last year, voting to stall action on the floor whenever they disagree with GOP leadership.

House Republicans helped to sink four rule votes in 2023 under McCarthy, the most ever to happen in a single year. Conservatives have done it once under Johnson’s speakership, staging a rebellion earlier this month in retaliation for the government budget deal brokered with Senate Democrats. 

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It’s not yet clear when House GOP leadership will bring the tax bill to the floor for a vote, although it may be pushed until next week due to conversations with rank-and-file Republicans. 

“We wouldn’t mind if it got punted as long as possible,” LaLota said.