Letters

Congressman Nick LaLota was happy to vote for the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” once the SALT deduction was increased to $40,000 for couples with an adjusted gross income of less than $500,000 [“LaLota Votes for House SALT Deduction Increase; Senate Still To Weigh In,” 27east.com, May 28]. Before it was raised, he said, “If I voted for a flat $30,000 SALT cap in 2025, even my own mother won’t vote for me in 2026.”

I guess it’s all about the votes, huh, Nick?

However, he had no problem with the fact that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation will raise the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion between 2026 and 2034. Nick LaLota has no problem with the fact that it will very likely trigger automatic cuts to Medicare (about $500 billion due to the Pay-As-You-Go Act). He has no problem with about $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid, something that will surely impact many seniors and disabled people.

Perhaps most troubling is the fact that Nick LaLota had no trouble voting for a bill that contains a one-sentence provision preventing federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, from enforcing contempt orders unless the plaintiffs have posted a monetary bond, which rarely happens in cases against the government.

What this means in plain English is that judges will have a very difficult time enforcing their orders blocking the Trump administration’s policies that are ruled unlawful — as they have already, 180 times.

Quite frankly, it’s unbelievable that Nick LaLota has no concerns with this bill beyond raising the SALT deduction, which probably isn’t going to survive the Senate’s revisions anyway.

Mary Anna Jun-Morris

Hampton Bays