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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has proposed that Social Security and Medicare be eliminated as federal entitlement programs and instead become programs approved by Congress on an annual basis as discretionary spending.
Those who work in the United States pay Social Security and Medicare taxes that go into federal trust funds. At retirement, based on the person’s lifetime earnings and other factors, the retiree is eligible to receive monthly Social Security payments. Similarly, Medicare is the federal health insurance program that starts for people 65 and older or for other people with disabilities.
In an interview aired Tuesday on “The Regular Joe Show” podcast, Johnson, who is running for a third term in the Senate, complained that the Social Security and Medicare programs automatically provide benefits to those who meet the qualifications — i.e. . who have paid into the system throughout their working lives.
“If you’re eligible for that right, you just get it, no matter what the cost,” Johnson said. “And our problem in this country is that more than 70 percent of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is mandatory spending. It’s on autopilot. Never—you’re just not doing proper supervision. You don’t go in there and fix the programs that fail. It’s just on autopilot.”
NEW: On Joe’s regular show, Senator Ron. Johnson (R-WI) Pushes to Eliminate Entitlements: “Social Security and Medicare, if you’re eligible, you just get it, no matter what the cost… We need to make everything into discretionary spending so that everything is valued.” pic .twitter.com/bE1KUb6uJ5
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) August 2, 2022
Johnson proposed that Social Security and Medicare be transformed into programs whose budgets are allocated by Congress on an annual basis. He pointed out that the budgets for the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are considered discretionary spending.
“What we need to do is turn everything into discretionary spending so that everything is evaluated so that we can fix problems or fix programs that are broken that are going to fail,” Johnson said. “As long as things are on autopilot, we just keep piling up debt.”
Johnson’s comments drew criticism from the White House and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.), who said Democrats would fight any attempt by Republicans to “pull the rug out from under our seniors.”
“The junior senator from Wisconsin wants to put Medicare and Social Security on the line,” Schumer told reporters Wednesday. “He argued that the benefits that millions of Americans rely on every day should not be guaranteed, but should be the subject of partisan fights here in Washington.” He would like to repeal the Medicare and Social Security guarantee and make them discretionary. Well, you know what happens when we make things discretionary here? All too often they are curtailed or even eliminated. We don’t want to do that.”
A spokesman for Johnson’s office dismissed the idea that Johnson wants to eliminate Medicare or Social Security.
“The senator’s point was that without the fiscal discipline and oversight typically found in discretionary spending, Congress allowed guaranteed benefits for programs like Social Security and Medicare to be jeopardized,” Johnson spokeswoman Alexa Henning said in an email.
“This needs to be addressed by Congress, which takes seriously its responsibilities to ensure that seniors do not need to question whether the programs they depend on remain solvent,” she added. “As he said, we need a process to save these programs and nobody is doing anything to save them long term. We just keep piling up debt, mortgaging our children’s futures and putting these programs at risk.
Asked Wednesday if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would support such a plan, his representative pointed to his previous rejection of a proposal by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) that would similarly reverse Social Security and Medicare. In March, Johnson said he supported “most” of Scott’s plan and called it “a positive thing.”
On March 1, Sen. Mitch McConnell denounced Sen. Rick Scott’s bill, which the minority leader said would raise taxes and cut Medicare aid. (Video: The Washington Post)
“If we are lucky enough to have the majority next year, I will be the majority leader. I will decide in consultation with my members what to put on the floor,” McConnell told reporters in March. “Let me tell you what will not be part of our agenda: We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and closes Social Security and Medicare within five years.”
Johnson announced earlier this year that he would run for re-election in November, despite a previous promise to retire after two terms. He is widely expected to win next Tuesday’s primary.
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Senate, criticized his would-be opponent’s remarks about benefits programs.
“Ron Johnson threatens to cut Social Security and Medicare,” Barnes tweeted Tuesday. “~surprise surprise~ self-serving multi-millionaire senator is trying to strip working people of the Social Security and Medicare benefits they’ve earned over a lifetime of hard work.”
According to the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau, Wisconsin ranks 17th in the nation for the percentage of its population 65 and older.
It wasn’t the first time Johnson made news for a proposal that caused even other Republicans to distance themselves. In March, Johnson said he wanted to see the GOP repeal the Affordable Care Act if his party won a majority in the White House and the House and Senate in 2024, something Republicans failed to do last time they had a majority in Washington.
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