Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTVishesh RaisinghaniMon, June 29, 2026 at 3:51 PM GMT+2 6 min readAnna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesMoneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson recently set off a political firestorm on a highly sensitive topic: Social Security reform.During a June 8 appearance on a Louisiana radio show (1), Johnson said that more than 74% of federal spending runs "on autopilot," pointing to entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as things that "have to be adjusted and fixed." He added that Republicans "have a plan to do that next year," citing the country's $40-trillion-plus debt and saying "desperate times call for desperate measures," according to Newsweek (2).Top PicksDave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake —