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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) offered sharply differing views on the GOP-backed budget bill making its way through Congress during separate interviews on Fox News Sunday.

Paul criticized the bill’s spending cuts as “wimpy and anemic,” warning that the legislation would “explode the debt.” A longtime fiscal hawk, Paul said he’ll vote against the measure, which narrowly passed the House last week. “The deficit is a threat to our country,” he said. “I think it’s the greatest threat to national security.” 

Appearing later on the program, Johnson defended the bill while acknowledging its imperfections. “This is the biggest spending cut, I think, in the history of government on planet Earth,” the speaker said. “Now is it enough? Of course not. But we have a very delicate balance, and we have to start the process.” 

The House version of the bill raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. Paul objected to the hike, while Johnson defended it as necessary to avoid a government default. “We’re extending the debt ceiling to show to creditors, the bond markets, the stock market that the Congress is serious about this,” Johnson said.

President Donald Trump has urged Republican lawmakers to support the legislation, calling it the “big, beautiful bill.”