Politics
Holdout GOP Senators Have ‘Come To Jesus’ Moment On Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill
Fiscal hardliners in the U.S. Senate are suddenly going soft on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax cut bill, portending safe passage if the talking point trends hold through the end of the month.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is tasked with shepherding the president’s signature domestic legislation through the upper chamber, where it is in the process of significant edits that will make a second passage in the U.S. House an uphill battle before a self-imposed Fourth of July deadline. All the meanwhile, fiscally conservative Republicans in the caucus are threatening to tank the bill unless Thune allows for further spending cuts to offset the trillions of dollars expected to be added to the national debt.
Suddenly, however, those criticisms are waning. Case in point are new remarks by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), a Tea Party conservative who appears to have shifted since staking out fierce opposition to Trump’s bill.
“We all want to see President Trump succeed,” he said in an interview this week. “Everybody is trying to help. That’s why, if I seem to have been striking a more hopeful tone, it’s because I am more hopeful.”
Only weeks earlier was Johnson airing his grievances over the airwaves, lamenting the cost that the president’s tax cuts would have for the nation’s long-term fiscal health.
“I have nothing but support for what President Trump is trying to do,” Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper in late May. “But from my point, this is a budget reconciliation process, so we ought to talk about numbers.”
Johnson made that same pitch to Trump during several one-on-one phone calls, sources near the two men say. But after the latest talks, one person described the White House as “optimistic that there’s a path to getting Johnson to yes.”
Trump, for his part, has worked as delicately as he can to redirect Johnson’s messaging toward what’s good about his bill: namely, the largest tax cuts in American history.
“When the president says, ‘Ron, you’ve been so negative, that’s just not even helpful,’ I want to be helpful,” Johnson told Politico, admitting he has “downplayed what is good in the bill.”
One person who described the president’s approach to Johnson summarized: “Don’t be negative to create leverage for yourself. If you want to negotiate, like, we can negotiate in private. We’re all reasonable people.”
The same discussions are taking place with other fiscal hawks, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who was recently re-invited to a White House picnic after seeing his invitation briefly pulled in what the lawmaker called an “immature” stunt by the administration.
While they not ever win over Paul, administration sources say other holdouts remain in play, citing recent talks with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).
“I believe we’ll get a deal done. I’m doing everything I can to represent my state,” Scott told the outlet this week.
Another is Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who is taking part in private talks to shoehorn a deregulatory proposal, known as the REINS Act, into the legislation. Senate negotiators are currently drafting a version that they hope will pass muster with the reconciliation process.
Passage by the Senate is far from the final chapter for the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has publicly expressed grave concerns about his ability to pass a new, slimmed-down version of the legislation after working tirelessly to win over both moderates and conservatives the first time.
