Mike Johnson Defends Trump’s ‘Beautiful Bill,’ Rand Paul Calls it ‘Wimpy and Anemic’ [WATCH]

A sharp policy divide emerged this weekend between House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over the size and scope of spending cuts and debt ceiling increases included in President Donald Trump’s legislative package, dubbed the “big, beautiful bill.”

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream, Speaker Johnson defended the bill and its inclusion of a debt ceiling extension, emphasizing the urgency of avoiding a default.

“It sounds like [Paul’s] biggest objection is the fact that we are extending the debt ceiling. That’s a critically important thing to do. We have to do it,” Johnson said. “We’re not going to get any Democrats to assist on that.”

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Johnson stressed that the debt ceiling increase must be part of a broader reconciliation package to ensure it passes the Senate.

“To get it through the Senate and make sure we don’t crash the U.S. economy and default on our debts for the first time in history, it has to be part of the reconciliation package,” he said.

“That’s why President Trump and all the other Republicans in Congress, House and Senate, understand the necessity of this.”

Later in the program, Sen. Paul joined the discussion and voiced strong opposition to the debt increase, calling the spending cuts in the bill “wimpy and anemic.”

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While Paul said he supported key parts of the bill, including making the 2017 tax cuts permanent and implementing spending reductions, he argued that the overall fiscal approach was unsustainable.

“I still would support the bill, even with wimpy and anemic cuts, if they weren’t going to explode the debt,” Paul said. “The problem is the math doesn’t add up.”

Paul pointed to conflicting estimates from both chambers, claiming the House version would increase the debt by $4 trillion, while the Senate’s version could add as much as $5 trillion.

He made clear that he would not support any version that increased the debt ceiling by that amount.

“There’s got to be someone left in Washington who thinks debt is wrong and deficits are wrong and wants to go in the other direction,” Paul said.

As an alternative, the Kentucky senator proposed a rolling three-month or $500 billion increase to the debt ceiling, arguing that it would force Congress to revisit the issue regularly and take deficit reduction seriously.

“The deficit is a threat to our country,” Paul said. “I think it’s the greatest threat to national security.”

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