White House pushes back against Fox News with epic fact-check based on GOP senator’s own words

10 February 2023

President Joe Biden's White House quickly pushed back against a tweet shared by Fox News featuring remarks made by a Republican lawmaker.

According to HuffPost, the news network also featured a link to a report accusing the Biden White House of "tripling down" on the president's State of the Union claim that 'some Republicans' [want] to cut Social Security."

Responding to the Fox News report, the White House pointed to remarks from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

"Republican Senator Ron Johnson, in radio interviews today, said that Social Security was a ‘legal Ponzi scheme’ and that Social Security should have been privatized.”

In the audio clip that the White House featured, the Republican lawmaker could be heard saying, “That’s why what I talked about, for the first time around in 2010, I just laid out the reality of Social Security. It’s a legal Ponzi scheme. It is. I mean, it’s a pay-as-you-go system.”

Later in the day, the lawmaker encouraged the idea of privatizing Social Security.

“Privatizing Social Security,” he said. “That was like the worst thing in the world. Well, you know, had we done it back then, you know, Social Security might be in a more stable position for younger workers.”

This comes as concerns loom about the future of Social Security in America. According to a report shared by the Social Security Administration, "as a result of changes to Social Security enacted in 1983, benefits are now expected to be payable in full on a timely basis until 2037, when the trust fund reserves are projected to become exhausted."

It added, "At the point where the reserves are used up, continuing taxes are expected to be enough to pay 76 percent of scheduled benefits. Thus, the Congress will need to make changes to the scheduled benefits and revenue sources for the program in the future."

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