Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Thursday criticized the House GOP’s sweeping package aimed at advancing President Trump’s tax agenda and cutting federal spending, taking a swipe at his House colleagues for, in his view, setting “the bar way too low” in their efforts to achieve meaningful savings.
“They just kept talking about $1.5 trillion. They set the bar way too low,” Johnson told reporters Friday morning after the “big, beautiful bill” narrowly passed the House this week.
“The goal of the House effort has been to pass one big, beautiful bill. It’s rhetoric. It’s false advertising. The goal should have been reduce average annual deficits, so we have to focus on spending,” Johnson added, per The Hill.
Reporters also questioned him about conservative holdouts in the House who had initially voiced similar concerns about the deficit, but ultimately allowed the bill to advance under pressure from President Donald Trump, who cautioned that failure on the legislation would cost the party dearly in the midterms.
“In the House, President Trump can threaten a primary, and those guys want to keep their seats. I understand the pressure,” he said. “Can’t pressure me that way.”