The death of Sen. Lindsey Graham has left Senate Republicans scrambling to untangle a mess that the late South Carolina Republican had been wrestling with as the chair of the Senate Budget Committee.
According to a report from Politico, it will be up to his replacement, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), to jump "directly into a legislative train wreck" with a highly contested spending bill looming.
Johnson is inheriting a "political minefield," the report stated. The fiscal conservative earned his reputation by challenging his own party's spending appetites, but now he's forced to balance those convictions against the demands of leadership desperate to pass controversial legislation before the midterms arrive.
"I wish Lindsey were alive," Johnson acknowledged during an interview. "This is not the way you want to become chairman of the Budget. But set that aside — you know, this is a role that I think I'm pretty well suited for."
The reality he faces is far messier than his initial optimism suggests, the report noted. Senate Republicans are battling over how to advance a reconciliation bill that would fund the Iran conflict and enact portions of Trump's SAVE America Act. The competing factions have fundamentally irreconcilable priorities.
Fiscal conservatives demand spending offsets. Defense hawks insist on military funding increases. Agricultural interests want enhanced farm supports. And House Republicans are pushing to adopt a budget blueprint this week—before the committee has resolved these conflicts.
According to Politico, "The soon-to-be Budget chair is instead having to reconcile his penchant for being a squeaky wheel from the sidelines with his new responsibility to help craft an agreement that leadership can then sell to skeptical colleagues as the midterms rapidly approach."
"It's not going to be easy," Johnson admitted. "My initial effort is going to be, try and get everybody on the same page. I was in the private sector for 30-some years, and I sold plastics, so my main skill set is, I'm a salesman. That's what you've got to do, so — you have to convince people."
Johnson is acutely aware of what happens when committee chairs resist leadership pressure. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, was systematically excluded from border security negotiations on last year's reconciliation bill after he resisted spending targets that leadership demanded.
