Frederica Freyberg:
A handful of Republican U.S. Senators are saying they won’t pass a big budget bill that spends more than it saves. Leading the charge is Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who has vowed to oppose the measure in his chamber unless more is done to rein in spending on assistance programs. Senator Tammy Baldwin agrees. The measure adds too much to the federal deficit but places the blame on tax cuts.

Ron Johnson:
You got to do the work. We’re not doing the work. We’re exempting most spending. Taking a look at a couple of programs. Afraid of the political blowback. The lies being told about Medicaid, for example. “Oh, we can’t touch that.” And that’s why we’re $37 trillion in debt. … There’s no amount of pressure that President Trump can apply to me that exceeds the pressure I feel the promises I made to stop mortgaging our kids’ future.

Tammy Baldwin:
I believe that the impact that the bill would have as passed by the House would be devastating on the most vulnerable communities, add mightily to the deficit and debt and again, why? So that they can pay for more tax cuts for the very wealthy and big corporations.

Frederica Freyberg:
Senator Johnson is expected to join us next week.