Johnson steps on political land mine with Social Security, Medicare comments

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a stalwart Senate ally of former President Trump, is facing fresh uncertainty in his race for reelection after telling a podcast last week that Social Security and Medicare should be classified as discretionary spending, with Congress authorized to set their budgets every year.   

Johnson had been cruising to reelection in a favorable political climate for Republicans, who expected to take control of the House and possibly the Senate as well.   

But now Johnson is on the defensive as Democrats have political ammo to claim that he wants to cut the two popular entitlement programs, a strategy they used effectively against Republicans in the past.   

Johnson has landed in hot water before for making provocative comments on conservative media, most notably when he said he didn’t feel threatened by protesters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, because he believed “those were people who love this country” while adding that he would have been “concerned” if they were Black Lives Matter protesters instead.    

Now Johnson is being asked to defend his comments to “The Regular Joe Show” podcast calling for Congress to review and approve the annual budgets of Medicare and Social Security, instead of letting them rise automatically, which they do as mandatory spending programs.