Thursday, Sep. 29, 2022
Did Wisconsin US Sen. Ron Johnson say he wants to end Social Security and Medicare?
In August, Wisconsin's incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson stated his stance in an interview that the government should make all federal spending—including budget items currently "on automatic pilot" like Medicare and Social Security—discretionary. He argued that this change would allow the government to evaluate and "fix" broken programs.
A spokesperson for Johnson elaborated his belief that "without fiscal discipline and oversight … Congress has allowed the guaranteed benefits for programs like Social Security and Medicare to be threatened" to the point whereby seniors may "question whether the programs they depend on remain solvent."
Amid Democratic criticism, Johnson clarified in a September tweet that he wanted to "save" the programs from "massive, out-of-control deficit spending." Johnson has expounded on an overall budgetary stance in favor of fiscal discipline and procedural reform.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Heartland Signal Clip from U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's appearance on the Regular Joe Show
- USA Today Sen. Ron Johnson calls for subjecting Medicare and Social Security to annual budget talks
- Senator Ron Johnson Tweet from September 27, 2022
- WIS Facts Get the facts: Social Security & Medicare
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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