Mike Johnson defended Trump's mega bill from tax attacks: 'This is the largest cut in spending in 30 years'

Mike Johnson defended Donald Trump's mega-bill from fiscal attacks launched by other Republicans. Aiming to convince skeptical lawmakers, the House speaker appeared on several media outlets Sunday, including Fox News, CNN and CBS News.

After months of negotiations with moderate Republicans and fiscal hawks, the Louisiana Republican finally got the House to pass his version of the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" with 215 votes in favor and 214 against. Now, the legislation heads to the Senate, where some detractors believe it does not do enough to attack the public debt. Prominent among them are Ron Johnson and Rand Paul.

Speaking to Jake Tapper for CNN, Johnson said the bill includes "this is the largest cut in spending in at least 30 years, and arguably ever." "We're cutting over $1.5 trillion dollar in federal spending while we check all the boxes and bring about a progrowth economy," he added.

In turn, the speaker of the House responded directly to Senator Johnson's criticism, remarking that, with such a slim majority, they have to think "in realm of what is possible."

"Look, I love Ron Johnson. We're we're limited government conservatives. We want to limit the size and scope of the government and make it work more efficiently and effectively. My response to him, and we've spoken about this over recent months, is that we're doing the best we can with the vote numbers that we have. In other words, we've got to turn this aircraft carrier. You don't turn an aircraft carrier on a dime. It takes a mile of open ocean to do it. And and it took us decades to get in this financial situation. We can't just flip a switch and get out of it overnight," he continued.

This time with Fox News, the speaker of the House attempted to assuage the concerns of Senator Paul, who, like Johnson, criticized the bill's current version.

"I agree wholeheartedly with what my dear friend, Rand Paul, said. I love his conviction and I share it. The national debt is … the greatest threat to our national security. (...) The last time we had a spending cut was three decades ago, and it was only 800 billion, even adjusted for inflation. This is the biggest spending cut, I think, in the history of government on planet earth. Now, is it enough? Of course not. But we have a very delicate balance and we have to start the process," he told Shannon Bream.

Because of the 53-47 majority Republicans hold in the Senate, President Trump can only afford a maximum of three Republican casualties in his signature legislation. In addition to Paul and Johnson, other senators who will need to be convinced are Josh Hawley (R-MO), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME).