Ron Johnson says Biden lying about his stance on Social Security and Medicare
Virginia Aabram
Video Embed
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) accused President Joe Biden of lying about his views on Social Security and Medicare after the president criticized his proposal to remove the programs from the bucket of “mandatory spending” in a visit to Wisconsin this week.
“President Biden is lying about me. He lied last night, and he lied again today. I never suggested putting Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block,” Johnson said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner.
During his Wednesday speech in DeForest, Wisconsin, Biden blasted Johnson for wanting to review entitlement spending every year, a proposal reminiscent of Sen. Rick Scott‘s (R-FL) plan to allow government programs to expire if Congress does not reauthorize them every five years. The plan, which Democrats used against the GOP in the midterm elections, has been widely panned by Senate Republicans.
“Come on, man,” the president said of Johnson’s proposal, eliciting boos from the crowd.
Johnson has spent the last couple of days pushing back on Biden’s comment.
“In fact, it was Joe Biden himself who suggested freezing these programs,” Johnson told the Washington Examiner, pointing to a bill Biden introduced in 1975 while serving in the Senate requiring all federal programs to sunset after four years.
On The Jay Weber Show on Thursday, Johnson said that although Social Security as it currently stands is a “legal Ponzi scheme,” his goal is to protect it and Medicare by ensuring they’re being used properly. Most Republicans have said they don’t want to touch the popular programs as Democrats accuse them of putting the entitlements on the chopping block in a brewing debt ceiling fight.
BIDEN TAKES SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE PITCH TO LAND OF TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND RICK SCOTT
Moving the programs to discretionary spending would mean Congress would have to reauthorize their funding each year.
“We’ve got to be looking at the budget in total every year. That doesn’t mean sunsetting anything, that doesn’t mean putting [anything] on the chopping block, that doesn’t mean cutting Social Security. But it does mean prioritizing lower-priority spending so we stop mortgaging our kids’ future,” Johnson said.
“The Democrats take that, and they lie,” Johnson continued. “They say I want to cut … Social Security. You couldn’t be further from the truth. I want to save Social Security. I’m just pointing out the greatest threat to Social Security and Medicare is the out-of-control debt and deficits, and that’s just the truth.”
Johnson narrowly won reelection in November, facing a tough race against a progressive challenger in the swing state.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Biden’s Wisconsin appearance followed his State of the Union address the night before, in which Republican hecklers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), called Biden a liar for suggesting the GOP would cut funding for Social Security and Medicare.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) insists House Republicans won’t touch the programs as they attempt to negotiate spending cuts with the White House in exchange for a hike in the federal borrowing limit.