Republicans lack the necessary support in the Senate to get President Trump’s marquee One Big Beautiful Bill Act over the finish line in its current form, Sen. Ron Johnson warned.
Johnson (R-Wis.) has been one of the most outspoken critics of the megabill’s impact on deficits alongside Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and has vowed to oppose it in its current shape, regardless of pressure from Trump.
“We have enough to stop the process until the president gets serious about the spending reduction and reducing the deficit,” Johnson told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
Last Thursday, House Republicans, who have a razor-thin majority and are notoriously fragmented as well as rambunctious, narrowly passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act after months of deliberations.
The mammoth legislation features an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, bolstered border security, beefed up defense, energy reforms and a slew of conservative wishlist items.
But now it must clear the Senate, which has a 53-47 Republican to Democrat majority. The Wisconsin senator warned that he is far from alone in opposing the measure due to its increase in deficits.
If it becomes law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could add $3.1 trillion to the debt to the deficit over a 10-year period, according to an assessment from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) argued that the deficit impact has been “dramatically overstated” and praised the roughly $1.5 trillion in cuts included in the massive bill.
“The CBO [Congressional Budget Office] has been panned because, as you said, they don’t do dynamic scoring,” the speaker told “State of the Union.” “They don’t account for the growth that will be fostered by all the policies.”
Republicans have long railed against the CBO’s estimates about tax cuts increasing fiscal deficits. Many GOP critics have pointed to the CBO’s estimates in 2017 that underestimated the revenue brought in after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed.
However, experts have noted that revenue after the tax cuts only exceeded CBO projections in a significant way because of the COVID-19 era inflation.
Sen. Johnson didn’t elaborate which senators would stick with him in opposing the signature bill until the deficit concerns were addressed, but his most outspoken ally has been Paul, who has railed against the megabill from the beginning.
Paul has also griped over the fact that the mammoth legislation features a $4 trillion hike to the debt ceiling, which is projected to reach its X-date in August, meaning the government will be at risk of default if Congress fails to act.
“The idea that we’re going to explode deficits and the projections are now looking at over $3 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years, I think is just, you know, not a serious proposal,” Paul told “Fox News Sunday.”
“The problem is the math doesn’t add up. They’re going to explode the debt by the House says $4 trillion,” he added. “If they strip out the debt ceiling, I’ll consider even with the imperfections voting for the rest of the bill. But I can’t vote to raise the debt ceiling.”
In addition to the fiscal hawks, some Republican senators have raised concerns about the Medicaid reforms in the massive bill.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) had previously warned that the Medicaid adjustments were a dealbreaker for him, though he’s been quieter since the bill cleared the House.
Additionally, moderates such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have also suggested significant Medicaid cuts could be a dealbreaker for them, though they’ve stopped short of making a commitment one way or the other on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) teased plans to make adjustments to the massive bill so that it can clear the Senate. Those changes will include efforts to address concerns from various senators and the Senate parliamentarian, the upper chamber’s custodian of its rules.
“The Senate will have its imprint on it,” Thune told reporters last week. “We’re coordinating with them, and the committees are working closely to try and identify potential Byrd problems ahead of time.”
The Byrd Rule dictates the type of legislation that can clear Senate reconciliation, the process needed to bypass a Democratic filibuster, which requires a 60-vote threshold to break.
“I have a very delicate balance here, a very delicate equilibrium that we have reached over a long period of time, and it’s best not to meddle with it too much,” the speaker warned about Senate modifications.
Trump is hoping to sign the massive bill by the Fourth of July.
