Senator Ron Johnson

Power corrupts. Government is power, and it's been corrupt. Nobody knew in total how much we spend because we never even talk about it. The first goal of this Republican budget reconciliation should be don't add to the deficit. I voted for President Trump. because I wanted him to defeat the deep state. You don't defeat the deep state by continuing to fund it at Biden's levels.

Power corrupts. Government is power, and it's been corrupt. Nobody knew in total how much we spend because we never even talk about it. The first goal of this Republican budget reconciliation should be don't add to the deficit. I voted for President Trump. because I wanted him to defeat the deep state. You don't defeat the deep state by continuing to fund it at Biden's levels.

Our base is going to go, why did we elect you guys? You're really no better than Democrats. I don't think President Trump, he's not focused on reducing spending. This is our one opportunity. And right now we're blowing and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we don't blow it. I can't be pressured by President Trump.

Our base is going to go, why did we elect you guys? You're really no better than Democrats. I don't think President Trump, he's not focused on reducing spending. This is our one opportunity. And right now we're blowing and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we don't blow it. I can't be pressured by President Trump.

He's willing to sit down with me, look at the numbers, acknowledge them, working forward in a reasonable plan forward. That's the only way he's going to get my support.

He's willing to sit down with me, look at the numbers, acknowledge them, working forward in a reasonable plan forward. That's the only way he's going to get my support.

Let me start. You talked about when I first ran for election in 2010, I ran out of the Tea Party, never had been involved in politics whatsoever, and didn't even decide to run until the end of April, announced in May, started a campaign during the summer, did all those parades. What I would shout during the parades was, this is a fight for freedom. We're mortgaging our children's future.

Let me start. You talked about when I first ran for election in 2010, I ran out of the Tea Party, never had been involved in politics whatsoever, and didn't even decide to run until the end of April, announced in May, started a campaign during the summer, did all those parades. What I would shout during the parades was, this is a fight for freedom. We're mortgaging our children's future.

It's wrong. It's immoral. It has to stop. That was my campaign theme in 2010. I still view myself more Tea Party than Republican Party. We have a lot of big spenders in the Republican Party as well. And I ran, again, because of Obamacare, which I knew would not work. And it's not working. By the way, that's the problem with Medicaid right now is Obamacare is now called Medicaid expansion.

It's wrong. It's immoral. It has to stop. That was my campaign theme in 2010. I still view myself more Tea Party than Republican Party. We have a lot of big spenders in the Republican Party as well. And I ran, again, because of Obamacare, which I knew would not work. And it's not working. By the way, that's the problem with Medicaid right now is Obamacare is now called Medicaid expansion.

But to answer your question, budget reconciliation was set up in the Budget Act, I think it was 1974. It doesn't work in terms of controlling spending. By the way, nothing ever has. We'll get into that in terms of we've never had a process for actually controlling spending. But it allows us to pass a budget and then to reconcile the budget. You're able to pass a budget.

But to answer your question, budget reconciliation was set up in the Budget Act, I think it was 1974. It doesn't work in terms of controlling spending. By the way, nothing ever has. We'll get into that in terms of we've never had a process for actually controlling spending. But it allows us to pass a budget and then to reconcile the budget. You're able to pass a budget.

It's not a law, but you pass this budget with just 50 votes, 51 votes majority. And then you can reconcile to that budget, also avoiding the Senate filibuster. So that's the main component. What's weird about it is you pass this budget, but you can only, through budget reconciliation, address mandatory spending. You can't touch the discretionary spending accounts, which is about 25% of our budget.

It's not a law, but you pass this budget with just 50 votes, 51 votes majority. And then you can reconcile to that budget, also avoiding the Senate filibuster. So that's the main component. What's weird about it is you pass this budget, but you can only, through budget reconciliation, address mandatory spending. You can't touch the discretionary spending accounts, which is about 25% of our budget.

That's one of the ways the budget has gotten completely out of control is we put so many things into the mandatory category. You know, initially it was entitled Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, but we have, I would say, deeply slid all kinds of discretionary spending into other mandatory that really exploded during COVID, where I think other mandatory hit well over $2 trillion.

That's one of the ways the budget has gotten completely out of control is we put so many things into the mandatory category. You know, initially it was entitled Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, but we have, I would say, deeply slid all kinds of discretionary spending into other mandatory that really exploded during COVID, where I think other mandatory hit well over $2 trillion.

Last fiscal year is about $1.3 trillion. This year will be over a trillion. So it went from about $642 billion in 2019, other mandatory, again, not Social Security, Medicare, even Medicaid, Went from 642 to last year, 1.3. This year, it's going to be over a trillion dollars and it's going to keep pretty much at that level as far as the eye can see.

Last fiscal year is about $1.3 trillion. This year will be over a trillion. So it went from about $642 billion in 2019, other mandatory, again, not Social Security, Medicare, even Medicaid, Went from 642 to last year, 1.3. This year, it's going to be over a trillion dollars and it's going to keep pretty much at that level as far as the eye can see.

So again, that's a trillion dollars of other non-entitlement spending that we never looked at. And that's the whole point about mandatory spending. It's never looked at. So anyway, so we can address mandatory spending, not Social Security, through this reconciliation process, change programs, do whatever we want to do, as long as it has a primarily budgetary impact, not changing policy.

So again, that's a trillion dollars of other non-entitlement spending that we never looked at. And that's the whole point about mandatory spending. It's never looked at. So anyway, so we can address mandatory spending, not Social Security, through this reconciliation process, change programs, do whatever we want to do, as long as it has a primarily budgetary impact, not changing policy.