New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer is leading a group of Democrats who want to include a state and local tax (SALT) deduction in any spending deal and derail any new taxes.

Gottheimer, who is co-chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus, said in a statement first published by Punchbowl News that some House Democrats will oppose any possible spending deal that doesn’t restore the tax cut, which was capped at $10,000 in former President Trump’s 2017 tax bill.

"As I've consistently said, if there are any changes to the tax code that affect families in my district, then restoring SALT must be part of it. No SALT, no dice," Gottheimer said in a statement.

Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, another House Democrat, added: "No SALT, no deal."

Besides Suozzi, Gottheimer is recruiting other House Democratic representatives, according to the website Axios, including Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, Ed Case of Hawaii, Susie Lee of Nevada, Dean Phillips of Minnesota and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey.

Gottheimer’s initiative could scuttle efforts by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to reach a slimmer spending accord with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has publicly derailed major spending deals in the past. The stakes are particularly high for Democrats and President Biden heading into the election, with polls showing Biden at a historic low approval rating and Dems losing the majority in the House by at least 18 seats.

Ever since the 2017 tax bill capped the SALT deduction, lawmakers in high-tax states like New Jersey and New York have been working to reinstate it.

The House-approved Build Back Better Act, which flamed out in the Senate after Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona refused to sign on, would have raised the SALT deduction cap to $80,000 from $10,000.

Taxpayers had unlimited deductions before the new cap was added to the 2017 Republican tax law. 

If Gottheimer is successful at recruiting enough mainstream Democrats to his cause, it could make Schumer’s plan to get a spending plan across the finish line by August nearly impossible, Axios reported.

Manchin is the person lawmakers and the White House have to please most in order to pass a new spending package in the Senate, which is evenly split along party lines. And he doesn’t seem inclined to bring back the SALT tax break, which he suggests mostly helps high-income residents of high-tax states and cities.

The scaled-down spending bill that Democrat leaders are working on would dedicate half of $1 trillion to deficit reduction and the other half to clean energy tax credits. It would also possibly extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.

"SALT's not been in the talks at all,” Manchin said on Wednesday, adding that Northeast Democrats like Gottheimer who insist on adding the deduction to a reconciliation bill are barking up the wrong tree, according to the website The Hill.

Manchin has said he wants to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans rather than greenlight additional tax cuts for well-off taxpayers.