President-elect Donald Trump is giving Republicans his blessing to negotiate on a key tax that could prove critical to the GOP’s negotiations for a massive conservative policy overhaul next year.

Trump met with several different groups of House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, including blue state GOP lawmakers who make up the House SALT Caucus – a group opposed to the current $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions that primarily affect urban and suburban residents in areas with high income and property taxes, such as New York, New Jersey, and California.

“I think it was productive and successful,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said of the meeting. “The president supports our efforts to increase the SALT deduction. He understands that mayors and governors in blue states are crushing taxpayers and wants to provide relief from the federal level.”

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But Trump also signaled he was aware of the opposition from others in the House GOP conference, particularly rural district Republicans, who have viewed SALT deductions as tax breaks for the wealthy. Before the cap was imposed in 2017, there was no limit to how much state income and local property taxes people could deduct from their income when filing their federal returns.

“He gave us a little homework to work on, a number that could provide our middle class constituents with relief from the high taxes imposed by our governor and mayor, and at the same time, you know, something that can build consensus and get to [a 218-vote majority],” Malliotakis said.

 “I think we pretty much know that it’s not going to be a complete lifting of the SALT cap. There’s not an appetite within Congress or even among American taxpayers to lower taxes for the ultra-wealthy.

“Our efforts are really targeted to middle-class families, and that’s what we’re focused on in trying to achieve the right balance.”

The current SALT deduction cap has been opposed by New York and California lawmakers for much of its existence, since being levied in Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

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Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told Fox News Digital that Trump would work with New York Republicans on congestion pricing (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Trump suggested he would change course during his second administration as early as September last year, when he posted on Truth Social that he would “get SALT back, lower your taxes, and so much more.”

The discussions are part of Republicans’ wider talks about passing a massive fiscal and conservative policy overhaul via a process known as “reconciliation.”

By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage to a simple majority instead of two-thirds, the process allows the party in control of both houses of Congress and the White House to pass certain legislation provided it deals with budgetary and other fiscal matters.

Some pro-SALT deduction Republicans, like Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., had signaled they could withhold support from the final bill if the cap was not increased.

“The only red line I have is that if there is a tax bill that does not lift the cap on SALT, I would not support that,” Lawler told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.

Lawler also said Trump agreed that SALT deduction caps needed to be raised.

House Republicans have virtually no room for error with a razor-thin majority from Trump’s inauguration until likely sometime in April.

Rep. Mike Lawler said SALT deduction caps were a “red line” for his support on a budget reconciliation bill (Tierney L. Cross)

Meanwhile, Trump also told New York Republicans that he would help them fight their state’s controversial congestion pricing rule that levies an added cost to drive in parts of Manhattan.

“He understands how unfair this is and how it would impact the city’s economy and the people we represent and so we’re currently working with him on legal options to reverse the rubber stamp of the Biden administration,” Malliotakis said. “If there’s a legal option, if there’s a legal option for him to halt congestion pricing, he will.”

“You have, you know, cops, police, firefighters, nurses, the restaurant workers that have to go in at odd hours, and they drive because they don’t feel that the transit system is clean or safe.”

Congestion pricing took effect in New York City earlier this month.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment on this weekend’s meeting.

Landmark California environmental laws will be suspended for wildfire victims seeking to rebuild their homes and businesses, according to an executive order signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Requirements for building permits and reviews in the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act — often considered onerous by developers — will be eased for victims of the fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other communities, according to the order.

“California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I’m not going to give that up,” Newsom told Jacob Soboroff on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But one thing I won’t give into is delay. Delay is denial for people: lives, traditions, places torn apart, torn asunder.”

Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive of the California Building Industry Assn., said the governor’s action represents an early and strong statement about the future of these areas. Newsom is making clear, Dunmoyer said, that the state will encourage homeowners to go back to their neighborhoods rather than deem development there too risky.

“He’s put a marker down to say we’re going to rebuild these communities,” Dunmoyer said.

Waivers of the environmental quality act, known as CEQA, and the Coastal Act could shave years off the process for homeowners in the Palisades, he said, but building permits issued by local governments represent another major hurdle.

“Those two banner ones are important,” Dunmoyer said, referring to the state laws, “but if the locals don’t come up with an expedited process, that’s where it could get stuck.”

Newsom’s order calls for the state housing department to work with affected cities and the county to develop new permitting rules that would allow for all approvals to be issued within 30 days.

In the wake of the fires, housing analysts have renewed calls for the city of Los Angeles to speed up its processes. A 2023 study found that the average unit in a multifamily property in the city took five years to complete, with a substantial portion of that time related to bureaucratic approval.

Mayor Karen Bass has acknowledged the problems and pledged that the city will accelerate permitting.

“We are going to clear the red tape and unnecessary delays and costs and headaches that people experience in ordinary times so that we can rebuild your homes quickly,” Bass said at a news conference Thursday.

Bass reiterated the promise at a news conference Sunday morning, applauding the governor’s action, and said she plans to release details on the effort this week. L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, similarly lauded the governor’s executive order.

“I want to thank the governor for hearing my request and taking swift action to ensure that our residents will not be burdened by unnecessary requirements as they begin the process of recovery and rebuilding,” said Barger, a Republican.

However, many GOP members across the state said Newsom’s order was too little, too late.

“Wildfire victims deserve much more from Gavin Newsom. When his track record includes lying about and underfunding wildfire prevention efforts, he owes Angelenos answers on how he and local Democrat leaders could have been so unprepared for these devastating wildfires,” said California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson. “No more blame game and excuses. We need accountability from this governor, and we need it now.”

Environmentalists also noted that the governor’s executive order restates an existing provision in the Coastal Act that provides exemptions for fire rebuilds.

The California Coastal Commission, which is tasked with coordinating with local officials in enforcing the Coastal Act, noted last week that the state law already clearly lays out that reconstruction of homes, businesses and most other structures destroyed by a disaster are exempt from typical coastal development permits — as long as the new building is sited in the same location and not more than 10% larger or taller than the destroyed structure.

In the 2018 Woolsey fire, which devastated areas in and around Malibu, the commission coordinated with city and county officials to help homeowners rebuild. Coastal officials also noted that over the years, following other devastating natural disasters, the commission has processed hundreds of “disaster rebuild waivers” in other coastal areas that are directly regulated by the commission.

“When the time comes to rebuild, both the Coastal Act and the Governor’s Executive Order provide a clear pathway for replacing lost structures quickly and easily,” Kate Huckelbridge, the commission’s executive director, said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to all the residents of the L.A. area whose homes and communities have been destroyed by these horrific fires.”

President-elect Donald Trump and other conservatives have castigated Newsom and other Democratic leaders in California for embracing environmental policies that they argue laid the groundwork for this month’s historic destruction. Calling Newsom “incompetent,” Trump said he should resign, and made false statements about water being redirected to protect small fish and about Federal Emergency Management Agency policy.

“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out,” Trump wrote Saturday night on Truth Social, his social media platform. “Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?”

Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

Newsom, during the NBC interview, said he had asked the incoming president to come view the devastation in person, as Barger did Saturday.

“We want to do it in the spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist. He’s the president-elect,” Newsom said. “I respect the office.”

While noting that many of the buildings that survived the fires were more likely to be built under modern building codes, Newsom said he was worried about the amount of time it would take to rebuild. So his executive order eliminates some CEQA requirements, modifies Coastal Act provisions and ensures property tax assessments are not increased for those who rebuild.

CEQA was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970 amid the burgeoning environmental movement. The Coastal Act was created after a landmark voter proposition in 1972 that was led by a fervent statewide effort to save the coast from unchecked development and devastating oil spills like the 1969 disaster in Santa Barbara that was considered the “environmental shot heard round the world.”

Both have faced challenges for decades, and governors of both parties have argued for more than 40 years that CEQA needs to be reformed. Several of the act’s requirements were temporarily suspended by an executive order issued by Newsom during the pandemic. He argues that now is the time again.

Asked on the news program whether this month’s wildfires are the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history, Newsom noted that recent fires had resulted in a greater loss of life but said, “I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it in terms of the scale and scope.”

He called for a California version of the Marshall Plan, the American effort to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.

“We already have a team looking at reimagining L.A. 2.0,” he said, “and we are making sure everyone’s included, not just the folks on the coast, people here that were ravaged by this disaster.”