Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) says the sweeping bill to enact President Trump’s agenda needs to be overhauled and won’t get through the Senate by Trump’s July 4 deadline.
“It won’t happen,” Johnson, who has harshly criticized the bill for adding trillions of dollars to the federal debt, said of Trump’s goal to get the massive bill to his desk by July 4.
“The sooner President Trump recognizes the reality of the situation, the sooner we can work on a smaller version of the bill, do the things that have to be done: Extend current tax law, increase the debt ceiling, provide border funding,” he said.
Johnson also wants to include in a smaller package the “savings reductions” that House negotiators have already identified.
And he’s proposing raising the debt ceiling just enough to allow the government to keep borrowing for one more year. He says that will “keep the pressure” on Republican lawmakers to tackle the rest of Trump’s agenda in a second package.
“Only increase the debt ceiling for about a year to keep the pressure on to come back,” he said.
Johnson says he wants to reduce spending “to a reasonable prepandemic level.”
The Wisconsin senator made his comments to reporters prior to a meeting with Trump scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The meeting will also include the other GOP members of the Senate Finance Committee.
Johnson is one of several Senate conservatives who say the bill needs to do more to reduce the federal deficit, which is projected to hit $2.2 trillion in 2025 and grow to as high as $2.7 trillion in 2035.
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is projected to add $2.4 trillion to the nation’s deficit over roughly the next decade, according to a new cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.
