Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson has emerged as a vocal opponent of President Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill. The proposal, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, includes policies aimed at achieving several of Trump’s key campaign promises, including extensions of Trump’s 2017 corporate tax cuts, along with changes to work requirements for Medicaid and the elimination of taxes on tips received by workers in retail and service industries.
Johnson has been loud in his opposition to the proposal. In an event at the Newsroom Pub in Downtown Milwaukee, he spoke extensively about his desire to see deeper cuts to overall federal spending designed to decrease the federal budget deficits.
“The bill is not even close to adequate,” Johnson said. “I want us, as Republicans, to commit to a reasonable pre-pandemic level spend… and a process to achieve and maintain it.”
Johnson has justified his opposition under the philosophy that he wants to stop “mortgaging our children’s future”. Julia Azari, a professor of political science at Marquette, says that the rhetoric seen from Johnson is not new, and that divisions within the GOP over spending have existed for decades.
“In the Republican Party, you have seen a lot of rhetoric about cutting spending and shrinking government. [But] when it comes to the reality of [cutting] actual programs is much harder to sell,” Azari said.
Azari also highlighted how these public debates within the GOP could provide clues to the future of the party after Trump leaves the presidency.
“One thing that [people] are going to look for in 2028/2029 is the extent to which Trump will leave a vacuum among people who’s political careers are very tied to him,” Azari said. She added that it is an open question as to whether the party will continue to follow in Trump’s populist footsteps or pivot back to a more traditional conservative ideology.
History has shown that opposing Trump often comes at a huge political cost for GOP elected officials. This does not seem to be a concern to Senator Johnson.
“There is no amount of pressure that President Trump can apply to me that exceeds the pressure I feel from the promises I made to stop mortgaging our children’s future,” Johnson said. “My loyalty is to the future of this country. My loyalty is to our kids and grandkids.”
This story was written by Sahil Gupta. He can be reached at sahil.gupta@marquette.edu.
