Trump tax legislation; Sen. Ron Johnson opposes 'big, beautiful bill'
Trump tax bill; Sen. Ron Johnson shares opposition
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, slammed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill.
WISCONSIN - A Wisconsin Republican leader is criticizing President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill.
Opposing the "big, beautiful bill"
What we know:
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, slammed the bill backed by Trump, who called it the "big, beautiful bill."
Sen. Ron Johnson
The bill would renew the expiring 2017 GOP tax cuts, while at the same time cut government spending, including food stamps and Medicaid.
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The House very narrowly passed it, and now it might be hitting snags in the Senate.
Johnson said he thinks there are enough no votes in the Senate to slow down the process. He wants the bill’s cuts to go deeper, calling to return spending to pre-pandemic levels.
Sen. Ron Johnson
"It just misses the moment. It's not even close to adequate," Johnson said. "It doesn't talk about cuts. I’m talking about using the exact same expenditures that Clinton, Obama and Trump laid out. That’s not cutting, that’s just returning to a reasonable spending level."
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the tax changes add to federal deficits by $3.8 trillion from 2026 through 2034.
It also finds cuts of about a trillion dollars to Medicaid and food stamps.
What they're saying:
"I went back to Clinton in 1998. I don't think we spent too little under Clinton, Obama, 2014, we did spend too little under Obama," Johnson said. "2019 under Trump, if you exempt Social Security, Medicare and interest, leave those spending as you're going to spend it, but all the other outlay is just increased by population growth and inflation. Very reasonable control, right? If you put some control in the process, you'd end up with a baseline budget somewhere between 5.5 versus 6.5, versus the over $7 trillion in scheduled spend."
When we're talking about a few Republicans opposing this bill, it will only take four to tank it. So, Senate Republicans will tweak the House bill. But then, the House will have to OK the changes.
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"I am here to speak on behalf of the nearly 14 million Americans whose health care is on the chopping block right now in this bill," U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, said on potential cuts. "Republicans are advancing a plan to take away care from working families, so that the super wealthy can get richer."
Sen. Tammy Baldwin
Musk weighs in
Dig deeper:
Additionally, Elon Musk's relationship with the federal government appears to be hitting a rough patch. He's stepping away from his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) post soon, but not before criticizing the massive budget bill.
"I was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing."
According to DOGE’s website, Musk and his team have cut $175 billion in federal spending since starting this effort.
Trump said we’ll see what happens, as the bill has a long way to go.
The Source: The information in this post was collected and produced by FOX6 News.