Senate GOP isn't sold on Mike Johnson's budget blueprint

Source: Politico

07/16/2026 11:53 AM EDT


Senate Republicans are pouring cold water on the House GOP’s $95 billion blueprint for a new party-line spending package.Their skepticism is a reality check on Speaker Mike Johnson’s ambitious pledge that the Senate will adopt a budget resolution before leaving in early August.

“That’d be news to me,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday about Johnson’s floated timeline, indicating he had signed on to no such thing.

His comments came as the House Budget Committee debated a resolution that would pave the way for drafting and passing a party-line policy bill with the power to skirt the Senate filibuster.

Thune and Johnson have had a good working relationship. But Johnson’s penchant for speaking for the Senate over the past year, including during last summer’s debate over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, has been a point of frustration for Thune and his allies — especially because Thune is mindful not to speak for the House.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/16/senate-budget-reconciliation-tensions-01000751