US Senate Republican Ron Johnson says advancing Trump agenda depends on spending cuts

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A salient blimpish legislator predicted connected Sunday that Donald Trump's tax-cuts and migration docket volition not beforehand successful the U.S. Senate unless the president and Republican leaders hold to slash national spending to a level past seen earlier the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republican Ron Johnson, a subordinate of the Senate's fund and tax-writing committees, said spending cuts request to transcend a $2 trillion people approved arsenic portion of the docket by the House of Representatives. He called connected Republican leaders to make a reappraisal process to find further cuts successful the national budget.

"Without a committedness to returning to immoderate tenable pre-pandemic spending level, and a process to really execute it, I don't deliberation that's going anywhere," the Wisconsin Republican told the Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" program.

"That's going to beryllium the discussion," said Johnson, who wants to standard backmost full national outlays from an estimated $7 trillion this twelvemonth to a $4.4 trillion level seen successful 2019.

"We person a once-in-a-lifetime accidental to code this. This is our moment," helium said.

Johnson's comments could spell occupation for Senate bulk person John Thune, who hopes to walk a revised mentation of the House program this week.

Republicans person a 53-47 bulk successful the Senate and request astatine slightest 50 votes to walk the docket program with Vice President JD Vance wielding a tie-breaking vote.

But legislature Republicans are wide divided implicit spending cuts. Like Johnson, respective Senate Republicans privation acold larger reductions than the House people to wage for the Trump docket and code the $36.6 trillion U.S. debt. Others are urging humble cuts to support societal safety-net programs including Medicaid wellness sum for low-income Americans.

The House and Senate request to walk the aforesaid blueprint to unlock a parliamentary instrumentality known arsenic fund reconciliation, which would alteration them to enact Trump's docket aboriginal this twelvemonth by circumventing Democratic absorption successful the Senate.

Last week, Trump pulled his information of Republican Representative Elise Stefanik arsenic U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, saying the determination would assistance guarantee his agenda's occurrence successful the House, wherever Republicans clasp a razor-thin 218-213 majority.

(Reporting by David MorganEditing by Colleen Jenkins and Bill Berkrot)