The Senate GOP might be balking at the House provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act now, but the looming 2026 midterm elections are going to help it see the light, according to Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.
“We’ve seen the House deliver on the ‘big, beautiful bill’; we need the Senate to do the same,” Whatley told “The Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. “I think we’re going to have a lot of time to discuss over the next month what the Senate needs to do to get this bill done.”
There is precious little time to get President Donald Trump’s budget, spending, and tax cuts agenda in place before the 2026 midterms, and Republicans’ political fate is riding on it getting the bill signed into law sooner than later, Whatley warned.
“In the House we’re going to have a five-seat majority going into the [2026] election,” Whatley told host John Catsimatidis. “There has never been an election with a five-seat majority for either party going into it. We have our work cut out for us there.”
Democrats are going to ultimately help Republicans by not backing what the American people voted for in 2024, Whatley predicted.
“But if the economy is strong, and the Republicans stay united, and the Democrats continue to double-down on stupid, which is what they’re doing every single day,” he continued, “then we’re going to be in a position to expand that majority in the House and hopefully hold our own in the Senate.”
Passage at 215-214 was difficult in the narrow GOP majority in the House, but there are myriad senators shaky on passing the House framework. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is concerned how the waste, fraud, and abuse of Medicaid will be cut, while fiscal hawk Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., objects to yet another raise of the debt ceiling.
The Senate has more wiggle room than even the House does, though, with 53 Republican senators to 45 Democrats, and two independents who caucus with the Democrats.
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