GOP senator warns Trump threats 'just not going to work' in Senate

NOTUS reports Senate Republicans will be hashing the ins and outs of the contentious House budget bill virtually free of primary threats from President Donald Trump, whether the president likes it or not.

“It’s just not going to work. It works in the House, it doesn’t work here,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told NOTUS. Instead, Johnson said he wants the president to “get serious about the return to pre-pandemic-level spending, which he’s not yet.”

Trump cajoled and threatened Republican holdouts to support his budget bill, and its extension of Trump’s expensive 2017 tax cuts, throughout the deliberative process in the House this week.

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Trump recently targeted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in a conference meeting, complaining Massie had a habit of voting against Trump’s MAGA agenda, potentially tempting a more MAGA GOP opponent for himself in the primary.

“I don't think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he's a grandstander, frankly. He'll probably vote," Trump said. "We don't even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office, and I just don't think he understands government. If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer. He just says I'm a no."

Massie, who eventually signed on to the bill, was a holdout because he did not approve the significant amount of debt the bill carries while coupled with the 2017 tax cuts.

Now that the House is finished, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Senate Republicans still have a problem with many aspects of the bill, including its debt bomb and the potential damage it does to Medicaid beneficiaries.

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“They cobbled together a very delicate balance over there… but, you know, the Senate will have its imprint on it,” said Thune, the Senate Majority leader.

Other Republican senators, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Johnson still think the House version doesn’t cut enough federal spending.

“I’m not for continuing the Biden spending levels or the Biden deficits,” Paul told reporters. “Once the Republicans vote for this, the Republicans are going to own the deficit.”

Senate Republicans are not the only Republicans with concerns.

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“This bill could be a lot better,” former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon recently said on his War Room podcast. “I’m very concerned about the deficits in the short term, but given the totality of President Trump’s program, it’s the best you’re going to get for right now. And I’m very upset.”

Even before Democrats intervene, other Republicans may have difficulty with additional provisions House members inserted into a budget bill, including a ban on states regulating artificial intelligence. Such additions run counter to the Senate’s co-called “Byrd rule”, which regularly strips item not germane to a budget bill.

Read the full NOTUS report here.