Ron Johnson not satisfied with GOP megabill's spending reductions
Sen. Ron Johnson is gearing up to push for far deeper spending cuts as the Senate takes up President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy package, which the House narrowly passed Thursday.
The spending cuts in the GOP's megabill, $1.5 trillion over the course of 10 years, amount to little more than "a rounding error," Johnson (R-Wis.) told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday on "State of the Union."
"This is the weekend we honor the service and sacrifice of the finest among us. You know, more than a million that died defending this nation," Johnson said. "I don't think they served and sacrificed to leave our children completely mortgaged, their future and their prospects diminished because of it. So we need to be responsible. The first goal of our budget reconciliation process should be to reduce the deficit. This actually increases it."
Johnson wants to bring federal spending levels back to where they were before the pandemic, a roughly $6 trillion cut. He told Tapper the Congressional Reconciliation process represented "our only chance" to reset the country's finances. And he said he has enough Republicans on his side "to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who helped shepherd the megabill through a fractured Republican Caucus last week, is urging senators to refrain from making major modifications to the bill — lest they imperil its chances of making it through the House a second time.
"Look, I love Ron Johnson," the speaker told Tapper, also on Sunday. "He's a dear friend. And he and I agree on our philosophy. We're limited government conservatives. We want to limit the size and scope of the government and make it work more efficiently and effectively. My response to him, and we've spoken about this over recent months, is that we're doing the best we can with the vote numbers that we have."
The Wisconsin senator said he understands the House speaker's plight. But he's looking at the bigger picture.
"We need to focus on spending, spending, spending," Ron Johnson said. "You don't defeat the deep state by funding it."
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