(AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is under fire for recent comments about Social Security and Medicare, entitlement programs that millions of seniors rely on.
In an appearance on the ‘Regular Joe’ Show Johnson proposed sweeping changes to both federal programs that would have the effect of putting each on the chopping block – subject to drastic cuts or outright elimination – every single year. Johnson is not the only Republican with a long history of seeking to undermine the programs, raising the very real possibility that under Johnson’s plan, a Republican majority in Congress would mean the end of each program as Americans have known them for decades.
Both Social Security and Medicare are mandatory programs under U.S. law that Americans pay into throughout their careers. Johnson would make the programs to discretionary spending cuts every single year, an even more radical proposal than the plan released earlier this year – which Johnson has praised – that would bring the future of the programs up for an authorization vote every five years.
In the past, Johnson has falsely referred to Social Security as a ‘ponzi scheme’, underscoring the seriousness of threats to the program should Republicans win control of Congress in this fall’s elections.
Johnson’s proposal drew a stern rebuke from Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore, who noted, “Social Security and Medicare are parts of the safety net that has kept us from having seniors and disabled people live in poverty and enable them to live with dignity.”
Wisconsin resident John Drew, a Social Security recipient, warned that Johnson’s “dangerous lie” about Social Security being a ‘ponzi scheme’ would “only serve(s) to cause fear and doubt in older Americans.”
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Politics
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