Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley is urging Senate Republicans to pass the Trump-endorsed “Big Beautiful Bill” budget plan, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week. Failure to do so, Whatley warned, could prove catastrophic for the party in the 2026 midterm elections.
“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.”
The RNC chairman further warned that Republican fortunes in 2026 likely hinge on the bill, as the party seeks to defend a five-seat House majority and navigate a Senate map that appears far less favorable than it did just a month ago.
“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.”
Whatley expressed optimism over voters’ growing disillusionment with the Democratic