Sen. Ron Johnson proposes 'line-by-line' cuts to pass Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'

Republican senators have voiced concerns about President Donald Trump’s "big, beautiful bill," saying they plan to vote "no" unless its impact on the national debt can be addressed. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is calling for a return to pre-pandemic spending as a possible solution.

The spending bill, which was passed by the House in late May, is expected to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, including interest, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Sen. Rand Paul came out as a "no" on the bill in its current form. 

"I’m a no unless we separate out the debt ceiling," Paul said. "If you take the debt ceiling off the bill, I’m pretty much a yes on most of the rest." 

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Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., also expressed opposition.

"If we follow the path of the House bill, we'll have close to, I think, $60 trillion worth of debt in 10 years," Scott said on "Mornings With Maria," Thursday. "What we've got to do is do what every family does: We've got to go through every line of the budget."

Sen. Johnson echoed Scott’s proposal on "Sunday Morning Futures," saying he would trust Scott to oversee a line-by-line review to find areas to cut spending. 

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"Rick Scott has the experience in Florida. Take a look at how successful he was at reducing spending, balancing his budget, and then giving tax cuts to Floridians," Johnson told host Maria Bartiromo. "He'd be great on a budget review panel, I propose that."

But as for specifics, Johnson maintained that there would be no "across-the-board" cuts in order to get back to pre-pandemic spending.

"It's been [an] unprecedented level of spending. There's no justification for $4.4 to $7 trillion in just six years. Getting back to a reasonable pre-pandemic level, you do it line by line by line," he said. 

But with an expected deadline in July, Johnson proposed splitting Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" into two parts to allow the Senate more time to address the deficit concerns. 

"If we split this thing into two parts: border defense, take what spending cuts that we've already identified, bank those, extend current tax law, take an automatic tax increase off the table, increase the debt ceiling for about a year—by the way, that will be a shocking amount, about $2.5 trillion just to get us into March of 2026.. That ought to tell people, we better fix this."

Trump criticized those opposing his bill, saying Republicans are "playing right into the hands of the Democrats" if they vote "no."

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But Johnson maintained the need to return to lower pre-pandemic spending.

"I want to see [President Trump] succeed. But again, my loyalty is to the American people, to my kids and grandkids. We cannot continue to mortgage their future," Johnson said.