All politics is state and local.

Positions on the Republican tax legislation break down not just on a partisan level but regional ones. That’s because several members of the House, including vulnerable Republicans, represent high-tax states like New York and New Jersey where their constituents currently deduct state and local taxes from their federal returns. 

Complicating it all even more, Senate Republicans want to revisit the perilous health care debate by repealing the mandate to purchase health insurance. Doing so might provide more revenue to pay for tax cuts, but it could jeopardize passage by Republicans concerned about kicking people off health insurance and raising premiums — the flip side of getting access to that new pot of money. 

Roll Call columnist Walter Shapiro and Leadership Editor Jason Dick discuss the political morass Congress finds itself in on the tax debate on the Big Story Podcast.