line and energy,” Johnson said, ….

line and energy,” Johnson said, noting that this has the impact of raising costs for all other products and services.

He also cited the supply chain issues which have been aggravated by government spending. “We have way too many dollars chasing too few goods,” Johnson said.

Another major cause of inflation, he said was an expansion of benefits during COVID that allowed people to stay home and the removal of work requirements for government programs which reduced the number of goods and services available leading to further price increases.

He said the solution, in part, is to dramatically reduce deficit spending. In addition he advocates for additional drilling for oil and for the United States to move toward energy independence.

He said he would support efforts to restore the benefit work requirements that were eliminated under the Obama administration.

Johnson said he would also look to the supply side to address inflation through the increase of immigrants. “I would love to see an increase in immigration,” Johnson said.

“We need 2.6 million new workers to just grow 3%,” he said, noting the country’s birth rate is not able to maintain that growth. He said the only way to do this is through legal immigration. He said he favored an immigration process that would allow the federal government to dial up or down immigration based on the economic situations so if unemployment went up the amount of immigrants allowed in would go down.

“Every wave of new immigrants has worked their tails off,” Johnson said of the dedication of immigrant labor and its importance to things such as Wisconsin’s agriculture industry. “Immigrant labor works,” he said, praising those who are trying to get a better life for their families.

However he said the big sticking point to reforming the immigration system is with the need to secure the borders, particularly the border with Mexico. He blamed the Biden administration on loosening the border security put into place under the previous administration. “We had the border secure at the end of the last administration,” he said, criticizing president Biden for “throwing open” the border.

Going from immigration to Social Security, Johnson answered political allegations about his attempts to have Medicare and Social Security on the table during federal budget talks. Currently these programs are not reviewed with the budget.

“I am trying to save Social Security and Medicare,” he said.

Johnson said the massive federal deficit spending has led to borrowing to support the Social Security system. “Already benefits exceed reserves,” he said, describing it as a pay-as-you-go system where the dollars paid in by workers today are going to pay for current benefits rather than building for the future.

The entire system, he said is propped up by U.S. Government bonds. “It is just a piece of paper,” he said, noting they are kept in four filing drawers. He said when Social Security needs money they take a bond out and the treasury department issues another bond with the hope creditors will buy it. He said at some point, with the country $31 trillion in debt, we will not be able to borrow at the preferred interest rate. He said if the U.S. had to pay the average of the interest rates of 5.4% over recent decades, it would be disastrous.

“We should be looking at this holistically,” Johnson said. He called for both the mandatory and discretionary spending to be on the table to serve as a wake up call.

“I have never said, I want to cut it. I want to save it,” Johnson said.

Tied into U.S. spending is international trade. Johnson noted that trade deals are very difficult.

While he described himself as supporting free trade, noting the best tariffs are no tariffs, he said the issues are complex and there is a desire for all countries to want to protect certain things. He gave the example about how the U.S. dairy industry could completely destroy the Canadian dairy industry because of their supply-side model that keeps prices for consumers higher.

That said, Johnson noted he was opposed to the tariffs that were supported under the Trump administration with regard to Canada. These tariffs raise materials costs for things like paper and aluminum.

At the same time, Johnson said other international players such as China need to be taken to task when it comes to international trade. “They have abused the World Trade Organization,” Johnson said noting their record on intellectual property theft. He said there needs to be a focus to get them to abide by the rules.

Looking to other international relations, Johnson said he supports the U.S. efforts to help the Ukrainian government in their ongoing war with Russia.

“It is evil what Putin is doing. He is committing war crimes,” Johnson said.

Johnson praised Ukrainian president Zelensky noting that he has been to Ukraine several times and has met him. “I think he is the real deal,” Johnson said, noting that he feels Zelensky was working to defeat corruption in Ukraine and that they want a free market there.

“As Americans we have the ability to be a phenomenal force for good,” Johnson said, supporting the American backing of Ukraine. However, Johnson said that he does not want to see America get into a shooting war with Russia or see America depleting its military readiness.

He explained that so far much of the aid has been in the form of equipment with much of it older equipment that is usable by the Ukrainian troops. This includes equipment from NATO allies.

Johnson also said there needs to be accountability about how the aid is being used and money being spent to prevent corruption.

On the domestic front, Johnson weighed in on the abortion issue by calling for it to be decided state by state through statewide referendums. He said he didn’t want to see nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court decide the issue and does feel it should be decided by the 535 members of congress or the 132 members of the state legislature.

“I want the people to decide this,” he said, noting that such an important and divisive topic should go to the voters with ample time to hold a “thoughtful, thorough and compassionate discussion about what an unborn child’s development is through the gestation period.”

Voters will decide on the U.S. Senate race on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.