Top GOP To Block Trump’s Spending Bill If Debt Isn’t Reduced

Donald Trump has been warned by fiscal hawks within his own party in the U.S. Senate that he must “get serious” about cutting government spending and reducing the national debt or risk having his signature tax-cutting legislation blocked, Ed Pilkington reported for The Guardian.

Ron Johnson rose to prominence as a fiscal hardliner with the Tea Party movement. Photo: Ron Johnson Facebook

Ron Johnson, the Republican senator from Wisconsin who rose to prominence as a fiscal hardliner with the Tea Party movement, issued the warning to the president recently.

Asked by CNN’s State of the Union whether his faction had the numbers to halt the bill, he replied: “I think we have enough to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit.”

Trump has invested a large portion of his political capital in the massive package.

It extends the 2017 tax cuts from his first administration in exchange for about $1 trillion in benefits cuts, including reductions in Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income families, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).