Sam Johnson

Why He Matters

Johnson is one of the House's most prominent conservative voices on fiscal matters. Now the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee’s subcommittee on Social Security, he has focused his legislative efforts on reducing taxes, opposing regulatory efforts and putting the brakes on federal agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts.

A founder of the Conservative Action Team, which later evolved into the Republican Study Committee, Johnson has repeatedly introduced a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th amendment, which allows a federal income tax, and he helped advance the 2000 repeal of the earnings limit for Social Security recipients. He has opposed the Wall Street bailout plan, the cash-for-clunkers auto program and a bill regulating the credit-card industry.

Johnson now represents Texas’ 3rd Congressional District, a heavily-Republican area that covers parts of the Dallas-Ft. Worth. A veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, he spent seven years as a prisoner-of-war in the “Hanoi Hilton.” During the 2004 presidential race, he blasted Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) for protesting the war, accusing him of “aiding and abetting the enemy” and nicknaming him “Hanoi John” on the floor of the House."Inside Politics," The Washington Times, April 22, 2004

Path to Power

The Issues

The Network

Help complete this profile. Click here for writing guidelines & instructions for this section.