John,

After three weeks of chaos we finally have a new Speaker of the House of Representatives—and he’s the most extreme one yet.

In his first speech following his election as Speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson (LA-04) called for the creation of a Debt Commission that would—among other things—seek to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and other critical human needs programs.¹ But this shouldn’t be a surprise, given Speaker Johnson’s history of demanding cuts to our earned benefits.

In resurfaced clips from a talk he gave at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute back in 2018, Johnson states that cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are something “we have to get back to it as the number 1 priority”,² further claiming Social Security and Medicare pose an existential threat to “our whole form of government.”³

We’re in a critical moment. We must defeat proposals to cut not only Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, but essential nutritional, housing, and early learning programs. Chip in $5 today to fight back against Speaker Mike Johnson and right-wing attacks on our earned benefits and critical human needs programs.

Though he was first elected to the House in 2016, Johnson has made a name for himself in a short period of time by being against critical human needs programs. He has advocated for drastic cuts in SNAP—calling it “our nation’s most broken and bloated welfare program”; he’s called for radically changing the Head Start program by making it a state-administered early education voucher program; and he has introduced legislation to make it more difficult for refugees to seek asylum.⁴

Now that he’s been elected unanimously by the House Republican Caucus, there’s no doubt that Speaker Johnson will unleash his cruel legislative priorities now that he holds the most powerful position in the House.

We have to do everything in our power to protect the most vulnerable communities. With another government shutdown looming, we have to fight attacks on immigrant communities, children, people with disabilities, and low-income families—and ensure marginalized people aren’t paying the price for keeping the government open.

Rush a donation now to fight back against Speaker Mike Johnson’s Debt Commission.

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Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1717249851853885772
² https://x.com/patriottakes/status/1717159919416184909?s=20
³ https://x.com/patriottakes/status/1717190984499425785?s=20
⁴ Here’s where Speaker Mike Johnson stands on the issues