WASHINGTON -- House Republicans want to permanently shrink your property tax break, and that could make it it even harder for GOP congressional candidates running uphill in New Jersey's midterm elections.

The House Ways and Means Committee rekindled the debate over the unpopular Republican tax law as committee Republicans voted to extend provisions now scheduled to expire in 2025.

That means permanently capping the federal deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000, less than the average claimed in 20 of the New Jersey's 21 counties by those who itemize, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

"The Republican Party has no shame and no sense," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-6th Dist., the only New Jersey lawmaker on the Ways and Means panel. He called the new bill "as popular as rug burn."

Ironically, the fight is over a bill unlikely to become law this year. Dubbed "Tax Reform 2.0," the measure needs 60 votes to pass the Senate and there are only 51 Republicans.

But it will remind voters of how much they dislike the current law that President Donald Trump signed last December, said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. That could hurt Republicans in tight races, he said.

"When you have so many tight races, every little bit matters in terms of moving voters one way or another," Murray said.

Nor is it clear that the tax cuts fueled the 4.1 percent economic growth in the second quarter, the highest since 4.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014 under President Barack Obama, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

"You can't measure the impact after six months," said Tom Bracken, president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the tax bill. "There's no way to measure the impact in that short of time."

A Monmouth poll released last month said voters disapproved of the tax law by 45 percent to 37 percent, and an April Monmouth survey said all five Republican-held House seats in New Jersey could be at risk because Trump and the tax bill were so unpopular.

At present, Democrats are favored to win two of the five districts and are no worse than even in two others, according to the Cook Political Report, a Washington-based publication that tracks congressional races.

"There's a simple reason why so many New Jersey Republicans are vulnerable -- their party has made hiking taxes on Garden State families the centerpiece of its agenda," said Evan Lukaske, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

In part because of the cap on deducting state and local taxes, more than 1 in 10 New Jersey taxpayers will face a tax increase, the highest percentage in the nation, while less than 62 percent will pay less, the fifth-lowest percentage, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group.

Despite Republicans calling their current bill a middle-class tax cut, 52 percent of its benefits goes to the wealthiest 10 percent of households, according to the Tax Policy Center. The new legislation would give them 51 percent.

"The Republican tax scam is very unpopular and it does not live up the commitment to prioritize hard-working middle-class families," DCCC Chairman Ben Lujan, a U.S. representative from New Mexico, told Washington-based reporters from local news outlets, including NJ Advance Media. "It's going to continue to be unpopular. There's no indication otherwise."

On the contrary, said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, the tax cuts have "re-energized this economy" and the new bill will "do more of it."

"Our families and small businesses who are seeing a roaring economy, what they tell me and what they tell our members is they don't want to go back to the bad old days: higher taxes, Main Street not hiring, our jobs going overseas and our economic growth puttering along," Brady, R-Texas, told reporters.

And National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Chris Martin saw the new tax bill as a positive this fall.

"Making the middle-class tax cuts permanent further shows that Republicans are fighting for working families in New Jersey," Martin said.

Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., who Cook rated as being in a tossup race with Democratic challenger Tom Malinowski, already has come out against the new bill, as have Reps. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., the only New Jersey Republican favored for re-election; and retiring Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist. All three opposed the original legislation.

Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., the only New Jersey lawmaker to support the legislation, also has no better than a 50-50 chance of winning, according to both Cook and Inside Elections, which shifted its rating on Friday.

The two-term incumbent is so endangered that the NRCC ran its first N.J. campaign ad in his district, charging that his Democratic opponent, former national security aide Andy Kim, "wants to raise your taxes."

MacArthur is a yes again for tax cuts.

"Should Congress vote to make that relief permanent, it would be a good thing for those taxpayers who are routinely getting crushed by tax-happy politicians in Trenton," MacArthur campaign spokesman Chris Russell said.

Kim is on the other side.

"Washington Republicans are finishing what Tom MacArthur started last year," spokesman Forrest Rilling said.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.