Speaker Johnson will meet with critical House swing votes on Tuesday night after four New York Republicans nearly paralyzed the House by killing a rule vote over objections to a bipartisan tax plan pushed by both GOP and Democratic leadership. 

Four members of the Republican conference — Congressmen Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, and Anthony D’Esposito — voted to kill a procedural motion on the House floor on Tuesday afternoon before Mr. Johnson and members of his leadership team cornered them on the chamber floor. 

The lawmakers then met privately in the Republican cloakroom before the four men emerged more than half an hour later, changed their votes, and allowed the rule to proceed. 

Emerging from the meeting, Mr. LaLota told the Sun that he and his colleagues plan to meet with the speaker on Tuesday night to discuss raising the state and local tax — or SALT — deduction to $20,000 from the current $10,000 cap. Mr. Garbarino told the Sun that conversations are “ongoing,” and the speaker will consider their proposal in private later tonight.

The current tax bill, unveiled by the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, includes an expanded child tax credit and some restored research and development breaks for businesses. 

“We want to do well by families,” Mr. Johnson said at a press conference when asked about the tax reform deal. “We had a long discussion about it … within the last hour. There’s a lot of good progress toward that … we do hope to be able to present a very clear picture here soon.”

The tax reform bill was projected to decrease federal revenues by about $80 billion, but proponents say it has been paid for by ending a pandemic-era tax credit program that the Internal Revenue Service says has been rife with fraud. Opponents say it could reduce federal revenue by more than $500 billion in the next decade if it is made permanent and no other offsets are included. 

The SALT deduction was slashed by President Trump in his 2017 tax bill, and New York Republicans, like the four objectors, ran heavily on restoring it when they campaigned during the 2022 midterms.

“To not include a SALT fix is idiotic and it’s political malpractice,” Mr. Lawler, who represents parts of Westchester County just north of New York City, said. The SALT reforms of 2017 have “severely impacted communities like mine, and some of my colleagues are starting to see their district come out against the $10,000 cap. My proposal would double it.”

“It would provide immediate tax relief for families at a time when the economy is in a perilous position, and affordability is the major issue impacting families all across this country,” he says. 

Mr. Lawler, who narrowly won his seat from a Democrat in 2022 and is a key target for the opposition party this year, says House Republicans are risking their majority by not giving suburban district members like himself something to run on. 

The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Jason Smith, would not be the chairman without members like Mr. Lawler, he argues. 

“If Jason Smith wants to be ranking member, by all means, go ahead,” he says. “I support the child tax credit. I support the research and development business credits. But again, from the standpoint of the districts that will determine the majority: it’s stupid.”

Mr. D’Esposito has been especially incensed that his fellow Republicans decided to omit one of his key policy priorities from the tax reform deal. 

The hard-line House Freedom Caucus has been sinking procedural rule votes for months over its opposition to certain budget and policy reforms, leaving the chamber paralyzed and unable to do business. Mr. D’Esposito says he and his New York colleagues may have to embrace the same tactics. “Perhaps it’s time that us, rational, become the radical,” he told reporters Monday, saying he may move to kill rule votes in the future. 

The 2017 tax bill capped the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000 a year through 2025, which drastically increased the total tax burden for families in high-tax states like Mr. Lawler’s New York. At the very least, he wants to see that cap doubled to $20,000 for married couples. 

He has introduced more ambitious legislation to raise the cap to $100,000 with one of his Democratic colleagues, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey. Other members have introduced legislation to abolish the cap altogether.