Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Sunday that there are enough Republican senators prepared to halt President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation package until concerns over federal spending and the national deficit are addressed.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Johnson responded to host Jake Tapper’s question about how many GOP senators shared his view and were willing to push back against the legislation.

“I think we have enough to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit,” Johnson said.

The legislation, which Trump has referred to as his “big, beautiful bill,” narrowly passed the House of Representatives on Thursday by a vote of 215–214, with one member voting “present.”

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Republican Representatives Thomas Massie (KY) and Warren Davidson (OH) voted against the bill, while House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (MD) voted present.

The narrow margin highlighted internal divisions within the Republican conference over federal spending levels and fiscal priorities.

Tapper pressed Johnson about how determined he and others in the Senate would be in pushing for significant changes to the bill.

Johnson responded by pointing to what he called an unsustainable trajectory of federal spending.

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“This is our moment. We have witnessed an unprecedented level of increased spending, 58% since 2019, other than World War II,” he said.

“This is our only chance to reset that to a reasonable pre-pandemic level of spending.”

Johnson argued that the spending cuts he is calling for would not be disruptive to most Americans.

“The spending that we would eliminate, people wouldn’t even notice,” he said.

However, he criticized the rushed legislative process and the lack of detailed scrutiny of federal programs.

“We’ve rushed this process, we haven’t taken the time, we’ve done it the same old way. Exempt most programs, take a look at a couple, tweak them a little bit, try and rely on a CBO score, and then have that score completely out of context with anything that really we ought to be talking about, like the $22 trillion of additional deficit over the next ten years.”

Johnson has been vocal about his opposition to the current version of the bill.

In a May 12 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, he urged President Trump and congressional leaders to reconsider their approach.

“By immediately passing a bill based on the Senate’s original budget resolution, we can fund border security and defense priorities and bank $850 billion in real spending reductions,” he wrote.

“The next step would be to pass a bill that extends current tax law to prevent the automatic 2026 tax increase, and avoids default by including a smaller increase in the debt ceiling that maintains the pressure and leverage to achieve future spending reductions.”

Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD) said last week that he believes there is a “workable path” to getting 51 votes in the Senate by July 4.

However, with a slim margin for defections, he cannot afford to lose more than three GOP senators.

In addition to Johnson, Senators Josh Hawley (MO), John Curtis (UT), Rand Paul (KY), and Kevin Cramer (ND) have also expressed varying levels of concern with the bill, particularly regarding spending levels and debt management.

The Senate is expected to take up the legislation in the coming weeks.

Republican leaders will need to navigate internal disagreements as they work to secure enough support to move the package forward without major amendments.

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