Johnson: ‘no amount of pressure’ Trump can apply to move him on reconciliation bill

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson lambasted President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” arguing it would increase the deficit and Congress should find more cuts before approving. 

“There’s 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 kids’ future,” the Oshkosh Republican said at a Newsmaker luncheon Wednesday in Milwaukee hosted by WisPolitics and the Milwaukee Press Club. “My loyalty is to the future of this country. My loyalty is our kids and grandkids, whose future is being diminished because of what we’ve done to them already.” 

Johnson has already criticized the bill and said the nation should go back to pre-pandemic levels of spending. Wedesday, Johnson said the spending recommended in the reconciliation bill is “not sustainable.” 

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“So again, I’m going to put pressure on the process,” Johnson said. “I’m going to put pressure on House and Senate leadership. I’m going to put pressure on the president to get serious about reducing spending, because you don’t defeat the deep state … by continuing to fund it at President Biden’s levels.”

Johnson said the process should be slowed down “until the president, our leadership gets serious about returning to a pre-pandemic level.” 

Johnson argued Republicans are not trying to cut Medicaid, but roll back the expansion under Obamacare, which he said provides coverage for “able-bodied, working-age, childless adults.” He also knocked former President Barack Obama for removing the work requirements from Medicaid and “incentivizing people to not work.” 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said Tuesday he no longer recommends the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women and healthy children, and Johnson praised Kennedy’s move. 

“It never should have been recommended or approved for children who had a virtually zero chance of a serious complication from COVID,” Johnson said, arguing the government was not transparent about the side effects of the vaccine. 

Johnson said to the media following the event that not enough people are asking about potential harms of any vaccines on children. He added “it’s entirely possible” there’s a link between the measles vaccine and autism. 

Numerous scientific studies have found no link.

Johnson also discussed his investigation into former President Joe Biden’s health decline as the chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 

“It certainly appears that President Biden was not with it,” Johnson said. “I think it was pretty obvious to all of us that were honestly looking at it, but the reports coming out of Jake Tapper’s book should frighten everybody.”

Johnson said the purpose of his investigation is to inform the American people of what happened and to draw attention to the issue for future leaders. 

State Dem Party spokesperson Philip Shulman knocked Johnson for trying to “gut Medicaid” and feeing “wild conspiracies that the measles vaccine causes autism.”

“This is the same senator who has referred to Social Security as a ‘Ponzi scheme’ and suggested that the COVID vaccine was administered to give people AIDS — he can’t be trusted to be honest with Wisconsinites and do what’s in their best interests,” Shulman said.

Ahead of Johnson’s event, a couple dozen protesters gathered in the rain outside the venue, speaking out against cuts to social safety net programs, the war in Gaza and actions of the Trump administration.

Jim Carpenter of Peace Action Wisconsin said he was there to protest the war in Gaza, which he described as a genocide against Palestinians. “A horrible crime is being committed,” he said. Johnson later defended Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.

Carpenter called for the U.S. to stop weapons shipments to Israel and for aid organizations to be allowed to resume distributing food and other essentials that are not reaching the people.

Carol Wolcott, of Milwaukee, said democracy is “going down the drain” under Trump’s administration. 

She called on Johnson to stand up to Trump and “do his job to protect the Constitution.”