Debate over the "big, beautiful bill" intensifies as Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul discuss spending cuts and debt ceiling on Sunday.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a fiscal hawk who has openly criticized House Republicans' reconciliation bill, predicted Sunday that there are enough in his flock to stop the process "until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit.

The following is the transcript of an interview with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on May 25, 2025.

Work requirements — better understood as benefit limits for the unemployed — are the centerpiece of Medicaid and food benefit cuts Republicans are using to offset part of the cost of tax cuts at the heart of their so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Work requirements were the core of a 1996 welfare reform bill that Clinton signed into law.

Johnson’s urgency comes ahead of Memorial Day, when lawmakers will want to leave Washington for a long holiday weekend.

President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” passed the House on Thursday after lawmakers wrestled with the legislation during an all-night session. The GOP spending bill now rests before a weary upper chamber as Medicaid reforms and deficit expansion remain concerns for Senate Republicans.