Will Potential Debt Ceiling Increase Include Spending Cuts? We Asked John Thune To Find Out

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that he would “love” for spending cuts to be included in future negotiations over raising the debt ceiling.

Thune said Wednesday that the debt ceiling would have to be raised in early 2027, though it is unclear whether it would happen in the first or second quarter, Punchbowl News reported. The majority leader told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he wanted spending cuts to be included if the debt ceiling is raised.

“I would love to have some spending cuts associated with the debt limit debate,” Thune told the DCNF.

White House budget director Russ Vought attended a private lunch with Senate Republicans Wednesday, telling them to keep the third reconciliation bill focused on the Safeguard America Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, defense spending and farm aid. He reportedly advised against adding spending cuts or attempting to raise the debt ceiling in that specific package.

The current U.S. federal debt ceiling is $41.1 trillion. It was last raised by $5 trillion under the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act signed into law on July 4, 2025, according to the Committee for a Responsible Budget.

The House’s version of the budget resolution would cost $95 billion, including $72 billion to address the Iran war and $12 billion to aid struggling farmers. It included no spending offsets. Thune reportedly pushed for more spending on defense than the $67 billion in defense spending already included in the House’s version.

Many Republicans, including Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, expressed concern about the package’s potential impact on the deficit.

“On any reconciliation, we ought to, one, pay for it; two, see how we can reduce the deficit,” Scott said on July 15.

Fiscal-hawk conservatives demanded spending cuts in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act in 2025. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s promise for future spending cuts prompted the holdouts to support the package, which President Donald Trump signed into law in July 2025.

Those spending cuts have still not materialized.

The U.S. national debt exceeded the total amount of output from the entire economy as of March 31. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that mandatory spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, plus interest on the debt, would permanently exceed federal tax revenue in 2027. The national debt is approaching $40 trillion.