Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Newsmax on Wednesday that the Senate should pass the continuing resolution that would keep the government funded for another six months despite widespread dissatisfaction with the bill among the GOP.
House Republicans passed the funding measure on Tuesday, sending it to the Senate for a vote that would send it to the desk of President Donald Trump. Several Senate Republicans have expressed concerns that the legislation could fail without Democrat support due to opposition among some members of the GOP, and Johnson pushed his colleagues to support the bill despite their reservations in an interview with "Wake Up America" on Wednesday.
Johnson said, "We're voting on the discretionary part of the budget, which is about 26%, $1.9 trillion. So this continuing resolution would be roughly $950 billion large," which he added is "reasonably clean."
Johnson said the legislation "increases defense slightly, decreases some of the domestic spending slightly. I mean, we're talking … $10 billion on either side when you're talking about a funding measure that's $950 billion large."
The senator added that although he doesn't "like the bill," he's supporting it to avoid a "very costly" government shutdown.
Johnson said, "I don't like government shutdowns. They're very costly. They're very inefficient. I don't like the bill. I don't think any Republican likes the continuing resolution. We'd rather have gone through an appropriation process. But again, from my standpoint, this is a no-brainer. Just pass it."
He went on to predict that the budget will "spend about $7.3 trillion this year, and that's up from $4.4 trillion in 2019."
Johnson said this is well above "pre-pandemic spending baselines ranging somewhere between $5.5 [trillion] and $6.5 [trillion]," which he said is "the most we ought to be spending this year — $6.5 trillion. That takes 2019 spending, increases it by population and inflation, uses today's Social Security and Medicare to leave those completely untouched."
Johnson added, "You can leave Medicaid completely untouched and still spend about $6.5 [trillion]. We're going to be spending $7.3 [trillion]. So again, let's get this funding done, and then let's focus on the reconciliation process."
He also said that Congress should "Focus on what [the Department of Government Efficiency] is doing from a standpoint of exposing the waste, fraud and abuse. Codify that so we can actually start saving money and reducing spending, return to prepandemic spending level."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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