Speaker Mike Johnson Says Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid Need to Be ‘Fixed’—Will It Impact Your July Benefits?
Below, we break down what these Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid discussions could mean for July benefits
Key Takeaways
AI-generated summary reviewed by our editorial team.- Mike Johnson says programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid need to be "adjusted."
- Lawmakers from both parties are urging Congress to protect Social Security.
- No proposed changes have been approved, making it unlikely that July benefits will be affected.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson recently said he wants to adjust Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid funding. Doing so would decrease the country’s ballooning entitlement spending, which is essentially the rapid growth of mandatory government programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Other lawmakers disagree with this idea, and some argue that adjusting funding for Social Security would cause the program’s funds to dry up sooner than expected. Below, we break down what all of this means and reveal whether these conversations are expected to impact Americans’ July Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.
What to know about Mike Johnson’s proposed Social Security cuts
Earlier this week, Johnson, a Republican congressman from Louisiana, went on a Louisiana radio show to discuss President Donald Trump’s second term, the war in Iran and the federal spending budget that’s currently a big topic of conversation both on and off Capitol Hill. He also took time to share his thoughts on the country’s spending habits and pitched an idea to would change them.
“The reason we’re in trouble is because over 74 percent of federal spending is on autopilot, mandatory spending. That’s your entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and things like Social Security,” Johnson said. “They have to be adjusted and fixed. We have a plan to do that next year, and it’s critical.”
What exactly that plan is remains to be seen, but lawmakers are sounding alarm bells. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis released a joint bipartisan statement shortly after Johnson’s remarks, urging their colleagues to protect the government-funded program.
“It’s clear now that Congress shouldn’t delay any longer. Several of us have been coming together to talk about how we can strengthen Social Security for current and future generations of retirees. We say to our colleagues: Join us in doing what we were elected to do—legislate on hard issues and protect this lifeline program for our kids and grandkids,” their press release read. “Congress has no shortage of ideas, we just need to actually debate them and vote.”
Experts also shared their thoughts on potential cuts, with Richard Johnson, AARP’s senior vice president of financial security, telling The Washington Post, “The challenge is manageable. Congress doesn’t have to abandon Social Security. It doesn’t have to rebuild the program from scratch.”
Others urged people to take a look at the news and think about how these conversations will impact the upcoming 2026 midterm election.
“It’s important to recognize that the Senators we elect this year will be in office when Social Security becomes unable to pay out full benefits, so this must be a central campaign issue,” Michael Peterson, CEO of the debt-focused think tank Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said in a statement. “This crisis is both highly predictable and fully avoidable, as there are many well-known solutions available. Now is the time for responsible, bipartisan leadership to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, ensuring the stability of these programs for generations of Americans to come.”
Can Mike Johnson actually cut federal funding for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?
If Johnson’s undisclosed plan does see the light of day, there is a chance Congress and President Trump could vote it into law. If they do, there could be cuts made to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but based on how lawmakers are responding to the idea, it’s highly unlikely that the Senate and the House of Representatives will vote yes.
President Trump is a different story: Just a few months ago he proposed cutting federal funding for Medicare, Medicaid and daycare to help pay for the war in Iran.
“We can balance the budget. We can have a surplus if you can stop that. And that does not include Medicare, Medicaid—that’s even bigger,” the President told an audience at a White House Easter lunch in April of this year. “We can’t take care of daycare. You got to let a state take care of daycare. And they should pay for it, too. They should pay. They’ll have to raise their taxes, but they should pay for it. And we could lower our taxes a little bit to make up for it. It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare—all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal [level]. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country.”
Similar to Johnson’s plan, those cuts would have to be approved by the House and Senate, and given how controversial these remarks were, it’s unlikely Congress will pass any sort of legislation that proposes major cuts to these government-funded programs.
Will these proposed cuts impact your July benefits?
Since Johnson’s proposed plan has yet to be shared or voted on, it’s highly unlikely that July Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits will be impacted. And America’s 250th birthday celebration won’t impact payments either. Because the main event—July 4—is on a Saturday, everyone’s benefits will be paid out on time. You can view the full Social Security July payment schedule below.
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will get their payments on Wednesday, July 1.
- If you received Social Security before May 1997 or are receiving both Social Security and SSI, you’ll get both payments on Tuesday, July 2.
- If you were born on the 1st through the 10th of the month, your benefits will be sent out on Wednesday, July 8.
- If you were born on the 11th through the 20th of the month, your benefits will be sent out on Wednesday, July 15.
- If you were born on the 21st through the 31st of the month, your benefits will be sent out on Wednesday, July 28.
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