John Thune Throws Shade At Mike Johnson, Says Reconciliation 3.0 Plan Is ‘ News To Me’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared skeptical Thursday of Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to pass a third reconciliation package by the August recess.

A $95 billion budget reconciliation package advanced out of the House Budget Committee and was expected to reach the floor before the August recess. Thune expressed doubt about Johnson’s plan to get the package to President Donald Trump’s desk by the August recess.

When Johnson said both chambers would get it through by the recess, Thune told reporters that was “news to me.” The majority leader said he spoke to Johnson and suggested that House leadership knew their limitations.

“I think they know the limitations that we have,” Thune said.

Johnson appeared optimistic that the Senate could pass the package.

“We’re gonna send them a package that they can’t refuse. And so he’s waiting on that product and that’s understandable,” Johnson told reporters. “And I don’t tell him how to run the Senate. He doesn’t tell me how to run the House, but we do work together. And, I’m gonna make it easy for them to pass that reconciliation bill and get the Save America Act to the President’s desk.”

A Thune spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the majority leader and Johnson speak on a regular basis.

“Leader Thune met with Speaker Johnson this week and the two communicate frequently,” the spokesperson said.

Thune stated he could not guarantee the package would pass quickly, noting several Republican senators were skeptical.

“I have to be a realist,” Thune said, according to Punchbowl News. “I can’t make any guarantees over here.”

In the upper chamber, the package would first be sent to the Senate Budget Committee. The late Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the former chair of the Budget Committee, passed