Johnson says won't vote for House budget bill, latest GOP senator to raise opposition

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said that he will vote against the GOP House of Representatives' budget bill.

“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, Politico reported.

Johnson has said that the bill doesn't reduce the federal deficit enough. The goal of the House bill is to reduce spending by at least $1.5 trillion.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Monday, Johnson wrote that the $1.5 trillion spending cut is only a 1.68% cut of the projected federal spending of $89.3 trillion across fiscal 2026-35.

"My guess is that much of that minuscule decrease will be backloaded to the end of the 10 years for which Congress is now budgeting, increasing the probability those savings will never be realized," Johnson wrote.

The senator wants federal spending to return to pre-pandemic levels, which would be a reduction of roughly $6.5 trillion.

Johnson may be the second GOP senator who won't support the spending bill, following Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Republicans can only lose one more senator and still have Vice President JD Vance break the tie to pass the bill.

In addition, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) warned in an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times against his own party’s push to slash Medicaid spending, just hours after House Republicans released legislation that could save billions of dollars and make millions of people lose health insurance coverage, according to The Hill newspaper.