Sen. Ron Johnson says there are ‘enough’ GOP senators to stall House budget bill

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, was photographed at the U.S. Capitol participating in a series of votes on Thursday, April 3, 2025.

On Sunday, Sen. Johnson expressed confidence that he has garnered enough support from his GOP colleagues to oppose the House’s significant legislative proposal, causing a potential delay in its progress and prompting modifications. This highlights the challenging road ahead for the comprehensive domestic policy package, which narrowly passed the House recently.

While House Speaker Mike Johnson advises Senate members against making substantial changes to the bill, fiscal conservatives in the Senate have indicated their reluctance to endorse the current version of the package. Sen. Johnson stated on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ “We have the numbers to halt the process until the president prioritizes spending reductions and deficit reduction.”

Sen. Johnson and some fellow Senators have voiced worries that the House bill could result in a sharp rise in federal deficits, a concern that Speaker Johnson has dismissed. Sen. Johnson argued that the primary objective of the budget reconciliation process “should be deficit reduction, but this bill would actually increase it.” He has emphasized the need for the federal government to revert to pre-pandemic spending levels.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky also criticized the spending reductions in the House bill as “weak and insufficient” on Sunday. Despite this, Paul stated on “Fox News Sunday,” “I would still back the bill, even with inadequate cuts, if it wouldn’t escalate the debt. The issue is that the numbers don’t add up, and it will balloon the debt.” An analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office suggested that the expansive package could raise the deficit by $3.8 trillion over the next ten years.