Sen. Mullin working toward passage of 'One Big Beautiful Bill'

President Trump wants the Republican-controlled Congress to have H.R.1 (The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act) on his desk to receive his signature by July 4. The House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of the bill at the end of May. The U.S. Senate has since been reviewing and revising the bill, in line with slightly differing views of its GOP members. With time running out, there are still several areas of the massive package where the Senate's changes have the potential to derail the legislation when it goes back to the House. Senator Mullin is leading the effort to bridge members' differences in one such area, the SALT (state and local tax) deduction. He spoke Wednesday afternoon about the state of negotiations on SALT and his view on the fate of the entire bill. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)

On reports earlier this week that he was close to a deal between his Senate counterparts and the House's SALT caucus:

"I've never said we had a deal. What I've said is I think we're going to find an area that neither side is going to love, but hopefully it has enough reasons to vote for it and not against it. But I don't think either side is going to be happy with where we come into, but that's negotiations, right? This is why it's, you know, difficult to do something like this because everybody's got to give a little bit, and every time someone gives a little bit, they feel like they're being cheated."

On why high tax states (Mullin points to New York, California, Illinois) want an increase in the SALT cap:

"This is how blue states operate, they have outrageously high property tax. They get away with it because they know that the individuals living there can take a huge deduction on their federal income tax, which essentially means that red states are subsidizing blue states for their, you know, horrible way they're running their state ... and what a lot of people are upset about in red states is why are we having to pay for poor management in blue states? I understand that. And in the Senate, it's really difficult because we don't have any senators from blue states. We're all from red states or purple states. But when we really start digging into this, we do have representatives in these states, because not all in New York state is blue; the biggest portion of it is blue, but upstate New York is fairly red. And not all of California is blue, but the West Coast is blue and, you know, a lot of the Central Valley and the Valley is red. and so it's, we have people that represent in, represent in the House, red districts inside of blue states, and this is a serious issue for them. So that's why we have to negotiate through it."

On whether he feels progress toward a final agreement is being made:

"I think we're on track, we're going to find a spot, I just don't know where that is going to be at. But I think we're, I think we're closer today than we was yesterday, because every day we're allowing people to talk, talk through the process, understand where they're at. And really sometimes it's a listening session, to allow them to vent their frustration and then, okay, now what do we do. I tell people it's kind of like this, it's like arguing with my wife: it's not always a great outcome for me, because she's typically right, but two things are always going to happen, I've always got to hear her out, and I've always got to let her have the last word. And then we can go on loving each other. And that's where I think this, this may end up."

On how confident he is the entire Big Beautiful Bill will be on the President's desk by July 4:

"I'm really confident. I mean, the president has made it very clear he wants it done. Thune has made it, Leader Thune has made it very clear that he wants it done. We're not going home till we get it done. So a lot of people are in different positions right now, [but] come Sunday, when they're missing the meetings that they were supposed to go to, or they're missing the 4th of July event...[when ] they're missing the vacation that they're supposed to go on, you know, the congressional trips they were supposed to go on, whatever it is, when people start missing things, you know, things seem to end up coming together. People, you know, quit grandstanding sometimes and start looking for a place to negotiate on."

On how much his unofficial role as House-Senate liaison is taking up his time right now:

"I'm not bored (laughs) ... I have plenty of conversations with everybody. And I think it's an honor to be able to do it."