Ron Johnson Tells the Truth – and House Republicans Agree

From the Speaker's Press Office:

When Republicans show you who they are, believe them. Sen. Ron Johnson let slip some truths about the Extreme MAGA Republican Party this week: they want to end Medicare and Social Security as we know it.

From the WaPo:

"In an interview that aired Tuesday on "The Regular Joe Show" podcast, Johnson, who is seeking a third term in the Senate, lamented that the Social Security and Medicare programs automatically grant benefits to those who meet the qualifications — that is, to those who had been paying into the system over their working life.

…

"Johnson suggested that Social Security and Medicare be transformed into programs whose budgets are appropriated by Congress on an annual basis."

But putting Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every year is no way to help working families – it is a way to devastate them. Unfortunately, MOST House Republicans agree with Sen. Johsnon.

The Republican Study Committee, which represents a whopping 157 out of 211 House Republicans, holds slashing Medicare and Social Security as a core tenant of their proposed budget. But Social Security and Medicare aren't the only lifesaving programs the GOP is gunning for.

MSNBC's Steve Benen lays out clearly what would happen if House Republicans' budgetary plan were to come to fruition:

"Social Security and Medicare would be partially privatized, food stamps would be slashed, Head Start would be phased out, Medicaid funding would be decimated, the Affordable Care Act would be weakened, labor unions would be undermined, the EPA would be gutted, abortion would be banned, birthright citizenship would be eliminated, Donald Trump's border wall would be funded, and even the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would see its doors permanently closed."

Extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have no plan to slash kitchen table costs, but they have no shortage of plans to make facing those record costs dangerously worse for working- and middle-class Americans.

Meanwhile, Democrats continue work to safeguard these lifeline programs WHILE reducing the national deficit, reduce the cost of health care and empower Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, combat the climate crisis and lower the costs of energy through The Inflation Reduction Act.