GOP senators demand deeper spending cuts in ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

According to The Hill, some Republican Senate members fear that the bill does not do enough to curb government spending over the next 10 years, and that those in the bond market are running away from investment over the spending concerns.

“I think we’re having trouble selling our long bonds already,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said, citing the rising interest rate in the US bond market. A US bond is a debt security that is issued by the United States to investors. After lending money to the US government, you are promised a return on the investment at a later date. Usually, interest rates for bonds are rather low in comparison to other securities. However, yield rates have been increasing, signaling higher risk in the bond market and lower trust in the US dollar.

Scott is one of four senators on the right side of the aisle in Congress who have voiced opposition to the levels of spending in the bill.

“I want to get a deal done; I support the president’s agenda. I support the border, I support the military, I support extending the Trump tax cuts — but we have to live in reality. But we got to live in reality here: We got a fiscal crisis,” Scott added. “You saw the Japanese bond market is in trouble. You saw the American bond market is in trouble. Inflation is not coming down; interest is not coming down. That means we’ve got to balance the budget."

Bond yields rose by over 5 percent last Thursday after the package passed the House, with two Republican House members voting no on the legislation. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is also fearing the consequences of the bill and said that the GOP will "wholly own" federal deficits if the bill is passed without more cuts to offset the cost of the legislation. “The anticipated deficits per year now will be $2 trillion a year for the next two years,” Paul added, and said that he will vote against the bill as it stands.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), an ally of Trump, has also taken issue with the bill, and said that there are enough holdouts that the bill will not pass through with the thin GOP majority in the Senate. Johnson said that Republicans should be looking over the bill to cut costs. “We’re going from $2.2 trillion in annual deficits to averaging between $2.5 trillion and $2.6 trillion. The No. 1 goal of this reconciliation ought to be to reduce that 10-year and those annual deficits, not increase them," Johnson added.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has also voiced opposition to the bill, saying that there needs to be more reduction in spending.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has also said that there has been a push from GOP senators to reduce the amount of spending in the bill. Aside from the senators who are more conservative on the fiscal side of things, more moderate Republicans have also taken issue with the bill. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jerry Moran (R-KS), as well as John Curtis (R-UT) have warned against the repealing of green energy subsidies that is included in the bill.

Republicans only have 53 seats in the Senate and can only afford to lose three votes. With four in opposition, the bill will not pass.