Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is calling President Biden a liar after being repeatedly characterized as a Republican seeking to end key entitlement programs.
During his Wednesday speech in Madison, Wisconsin, Biden acknowledged the “spirited debate” he had with House Republicans during the State of the Union address Tuesday night — when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and others booed and shouted that he was a “liar” for claiming Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare entitlements.
Refusing to back down at the Wisconsin rally, the president pulled out a brochure with the 12-point plan to “Rescue America” put forward by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., which Biden and Democrats have asserted lays out a proposal that would cause Social Security and Medicare programs to end without Congressional action.
The president then read a placard with a 2022 quote from Johnson, in which the Republican lawmaker called for Social Security and Medicare entitlements to be transitioned from mandatory to discretionary spending, which would require Congress to budget for those programs annually.
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President Biden holds a copy of a Sen. Rick Scott proposal during a speech Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in Wisconsin. (Fox News)
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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) arrives to a news conference. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Biden’s accusation was in reference to August 2022, when Johnson suggested that Social Security and Medicare should no longer exist as federal entitlement programs. Johnson specified that he believed the programs should instead be approved annually as discretionary spending.
“If you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost,” Johnson said at the time. “And our problem in this country is that more than 70% of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is all mandatory…
