Ron Johnson Will Become Senate Budget Committee Chair

July 15, 2024 Milwaukee, Wisconsin: U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson speaks on day one of the 2024 Republican National Convention. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

Wisconsin Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is set to take up the gavel as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee following the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) — giving Johnson significant sway over federal spending decisions as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans push to pass a third budget bill before this fall’s midterm elections.

Johnson, the fourth most senior Republican on the budget committee, is in line to get the position because Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) already chair the Judiciary and Finance committees and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is on his way out of the Senate after losing his May primary.

In a statement, Johnson’s office said he would focus on working with the House and White House to determine what is possible to include in a budget reconciliation bill in the limited time before November.

“Senator Johnson supports drafting and passing Reconciliation 3.0, and he will work diligently with all the relevant parties in the Senate, House, and White House to determine what is possible to achieve,” Johnson spokesperson Grace Carnathan said.

The push for a third reconciliation bill includes Trump’s proposed $350 billion in additional money for  the Pentagon during the ongoing war in Iran. Johnson also said he’s working with Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil to sidestep the filibuster and push through the SAVE America Act, imposing new restrictions on voting, through the budget reconciliation process, Politico reported.

Johnson told the outlet that despite not officially having the gavel yet, he’s working to get ready for the job.

“I’ve already met with Lindsey’s staff this afternoon,” he said Monday about picking up where Graham’s effort left off.

Since being elected to the Senate for the first time in 2010, Johnson has promoted an image of himself as a budget hawk devoted to shrinking the size of the federal government. He’s also regularly supported Republican tax cut bills while using his platform to spread his anti-vaccine beliefs, climate change denial and support for Republican conspiracy theories about election administration.

“Johnson is likely to do as much as he can to cut government spending in the remaining months of 2026,” Barry Burden, a professor of political science at UW-Madison, told the Examiner. “His party is very likely to lose control of the House and possibly the Senate, ending the opportunity to use the streamlined budget reconciliation process to enact cuts when the new Congress is seated in early 2027.”

Burden added that Johnson will “probably be more aggressive” about reducing federal spending, adding restrictions on voting and expanding the healthcare cuts made in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“Without a reelection of his own to worry about in Wisconsin, Johnson has the freedom to devote himself to being a budget warrior in the waning days of the Republican trifecta,” Burden said.

In recent months, Johnson has endorsed calls from some Republicans and Trump to end the Senate’s filibuster rules,  which require that non-budget legislation receive 60 votes to pass, in order to push through the SAVE America Act. Johnson said at the Republican Party of Wisconsin convention in May that Republicans should nix the filibuster now to preempt Democrats doing so if and when they get control of Congress and the White House.

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, said in a statement she hopes Johnson uses the role to help Wisconsinites rather than focusing on slashing government services.

“Senator Ron Johnson and the budget committee greenlit the biggest cut to Medicaid and food assistance in history, all while increasing the national debt by $3.4 trillion over the next decade,” Baldwin said. “Now that he’s poised to take the gavel, I hope he will use this opportunity to deliver for the people of Wisconsin and help lower their costs moving forward – not deliver more cuts to Wisconsinites’ health care or spend more on this war in Iran.”

Jeff Mandell, general counsel of the voting rights focused firm Law Forward, said that given Johnson’s history of advocacy for harsh restrictions on voting and on behalf of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, putting him in control of the budget committee is alarming.

“The Save Act would interfere with long-standing and well functioning election laws in Wisconsin leading to disenfranchisement of Wisconsin voters,” Mandell said.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson set to become Budget Committee chair was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.