Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Monday that he's a "no" on the reconciliation bill released by House Republicans earlier in the day, Politico reported.
At issue for Johnson — which he foreshadowed to Newsmax twice last week — is that spending cuts don't go nearly far enough in the mega bill released Monday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
"What we're doing is, we're looking at all the programs going, 'We can't touch that, touch that, can't touch that,'" Johnson said of the bill, President Donald Trump's legislative agenda, according to the report.
While congressional Republicans are trying to cut $1.5 trillion in spending, Johnson has pushed for a return to pre-pandemic levels of spending, which would amount to a $6.5 trillion cut.
He told Newsmax last week that he was "not particularly optimistic" about the bill or Republicans' ability to pass it by July 4, given "spending levels." Further, he told Newsmax that the Congressional Budget Office's "latest projection for 10 years spending is $89 trillion. So they're going to reduce that $89 trillion by an underwhelming $1.5 trillion. It's 1.7%. It's a rounding error."
Johnson added to Newsmax that the federal government has reached an "unprecedented level of increased spending" after the COVID-19 pandemic and warned that Congress and the Trump administration must "get serious about returning to a reasonable pre-pandemic level, spending just like every American family would do, live within your means."
In addition to Johnson, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is believed to be a "no" on the package, meaning Senate Republicans could afford to lose just one more vote.
A third, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has called the proposed cuts to Medicaid in the bill "morally wrong and politically suicidal."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.