Social Security and Medicare are on the chopping block with MAGA Republicans if they ever gain control of Congress.
A guy like Ron Johnson who called Social Security a "Ponzi Scheme" is just itching to eliminate it.
Republicans want to "sunset" social security and Medicare so it comes up for a vote each year in order to keep it going.
This is the same MAGA Republican party that voted "NO" to cap insulin at $35 for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act. This is the same MAGA Republican party that voted "NO" to cap insulin at $35 for ALL diabetics in America. This is also the same MAGA Republican party that voted "NO" to lower health care and prescription drug costs for ALL Americans and seniors.
Do you honestly think these same MAGA Republicans who are hellbent on destroying Social Security and Medicare will vote to keep it solvent each year?
If you believe that, then I have some ocean front property in the middle of the Arizona desert that I'd like to sell you.
The reason MAGA Republicans want to put Medicare and Social Security up for a vote each year is because they don't want to keep it. They want to vote "NO" to eliminate it just like they do everything else.
MAGA Republicans voted "NO " to cap insulin at $35. They sure aren't going to vote "YES" to keep Social Security and Medicare going.
This is their plan to eliminate Social Security and Medicare If they ever gain control of Congress.
MAGA Republicans refused to vote "YES" to lower the cost of insulin for their own diabetic constituents. They couldn't even do the bare minimum to help the middle class and the working poor to save money on their life saving medication.
MAGA Republicans certainly won't vote to keep Social Security and Medicare going when they make it a mandatory vote as part of their radical agenda.
Ron Johnson calls for subjecting Medicare and Social Security to annual budget talks
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson indicated Tuesday that Medicare and Social Security should be subjected to annual budget deliberations, a move that could upend guaranteed benefits relied upon by millions of Americans.
Johnson, who is running for a third term in November in a race that could shape the balance of power in the Senate, made his comments during an interview on the Regular Joe Show, hosted by Joe Giganti.
Federal spending is in two baskets — discretionary spending which comes in annual appropriations in areas like defense and public works and mandatory spending that is generally governed by statute and includes entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare that provide guaranteed benefits.
During the interview, Johnson was asked about the PACT Act — aid to veterans who have been exposed to toxic burn pits — and a controversy over discretionary vs. mandatory spending.
In his answer, Johnson suggested that he seeks to turn everything in the federal budget into discretionary spending — including Social Security and Medicare — so that programs can be evaluated and fixed.
"Defense spending has always been discretionary," Johnson said. "VA spending is discretionary. What's mandatory are things like Social Security and Medicare. If you qualify for the entitlement you just get it no matter what the cost. And our problem in this country is that more than 70 percent of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is all mandatory spending. It's on automatic pilot. It never ... you just don't do proper oversight. You don't get in there and fix the programs going bankrupt. It's just on automatic pilot.
"What we ought to be doing is we ought to turn everything into discretionary spending so that it's all evaluated so that we can fix problems or fix programs that are broken that are going to be going bankrupt," he said.
Johnson said that "as long as things are on automatic pilot we just continue to pile up debt, mortgage our kids' future, this massive debt burden, combined with this massive deficit spending that sparked this inflation that's wiping out people's wage gains, making it impossible for them to make ends meet. Again, this didn't just happen.
His likely Democratic rival in the November election, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, slammed Johnson's comments.
“Self-serving, multimillionaire senator Ron Johnson wants to strip working people of the Social Security and Medicare they’ve earned. Wisconsinites pay into Social Security through a lifetime of hard work, and they’re counting on this program and Medicare – but Ron Johnson just doesn't care,” Barnes said in a statement.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre weighed in with a tweet: "While @POTUS and congressional Democrats fight for the Inflation Reduction Act, which would let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices, congressional Republicans like @SenRonJohnson want to put Medicare on the chopping block. That would devastate families."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Johnson on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday.
“Just yesterday, the junior senator from Wisconsin argued that instead of strengthening Medicare and Social Security, we should put them on the chopping block. Hear that, citizens of Wisconsin, citizens of America? The junior senator from Wisconsin wants to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block.”
“He has argued that the benefits which millions of Americans rely on every day shouldn’t be guaranteed but should be subject to partisan infighting here in Washington. He would like to revoke the guarantee of Medicare and Social Security and make them discretionary. Well, you know what happens when we make things discretionary around here? All too often they get cut or even eliminated.”
A key trust fund backing Medicare is funded through 2028, according to projections, and the Social Security trust fund is fully funded through 2035.
In the past, Johnson has called Social Security a "Ponzi Scheme." He even cut an ad on the subject in his first campaign in 2012 against Democrat Russ Feingold.
"You know what? I did say that...because it's true," Johnson said in the ad.
"Russ Feingold and politicians from both parties raided the Social Security Trust Fund of trillions and left seniors an IOU. They spent the money, it's gone.
"I'll fight to keep every nickel of Social Security for retirees and I'll respect you enough to tell you the truth."
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/08/02/johnson-wants-medicare-social-security-discretionary-programs/10217972002/
