Press Releases
Speaker Johnson’s Anti-Senior, Anti-Consumer Policy Positions Pad Long List of Extreme Views
WASHINGTON D.C. – The more MAGA House Speaker Mike Johnson’s record comes to light, the clearer it becomes how extreme his world view is across the board on issues everyday Americans care about. Recent reporting has shed light on Johnson’s election-denying vote to finish what the insurrectionists started, his authorship of a rabidly anti-LBGTQ national “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and his enthusiastic support for national abortion bans. But that was just the tip of the extremism iceberg when considering Johnson’s fringe anti-consumer, senior-harming, food-aid-denying policy positions.
Speaker Johnson has a long history of siding with corporate lobbyists over everyday Americans. He doesn’t just support deep benefit cuts to Social Security and Medicare including raising the retirement age, he wrote a major Republican plan to make these nightmare cuts for seniors a reality.
Speaker Johnson publicly aligned himself with predatory lenders and debt collectors over lowering costs for consumers. And while Johnson has supported trillions of dollars in wasteful tax breaks for billionaires and greedy corporations, he’s all but declared war on basic food aid for the hungry. This is a guy who actually blamed desperation after Hurricane Katrina on a lack of prayer while blowing a racist dog whistle. Speaker Johnson’s far-right callous positions on social and pocketbook issues may excite his fellow MAGA extremists in Congress, but they’re completely out of step with everyday American families and seniors.”
Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk.
Among Speaker Johnson’s Most Alarming Anti-Consumer, Anti-Senior, Anti-Worker, Far-Right Positions:
1) As Chair Of The Republican Study Committee From 2019 To 2021, Johnson Advocated For Massive Cuts To Medicare, Medicaid, And Social Security, Later Claiming Just Before Becoming Speaker That They Posed “An Existential Threat” To The American Way Of Life. “During his tenure as chair of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) from 2019 to 2021, Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, vigorously championed budget resolutions proposing trillions in cuts to these programs. According to Bobby Kogan, senior director of Federal Budget Policy at American Progress, the proposed cuts were staggering; roughly $2 trillion from Medicare, $3 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, and $750 billion from Social Security. At an American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research event before he was elected speaker, Johnson did not mince his words, saying that entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security pose an ‘existential threat’ to the American way of life and the ‘whole form of government.’” [Newsweek, 10/26/23]
2) July 2023: Rep. Mike Johnson Signed On To A Republican Amicus Brief Supporting the Predatory Lending Industry’s Lawsuit Challenging The Constitutionality Of The CFPB’s Funding Structure—an effort to defund and defang the CFPB at the expense of consumers. [Supreme Court, 07/10/23]
3) Johnson Voted Against The Inflation Reduction Act Including Its Measures to Save Seniors Billions on Rx Costs by Allowing Medicare to Negotiate Lower Prices with Pharmaceutical Makers. [Office of the Clerk, accessed 10/26/23]
4) Johnson Is A “Vocal Advocate For Spending Cuts And Enacting New Restrictions On The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),” Dubbing It “‘Our Nation’s Most Broken And Bloated Welfare Program.'” “Since being elected to Congress in 2016, Johnson has been a vocal advocate for spending cuts and enacting new restrictions on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the country’s largest program feeding low-income Americans. While he voted for the last farm bill in 2018, he criticized the legislation for failing to make deeper cuts to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, which he dubbed “our nation’s most broken and bloated welfare program.” [Politico, 10/25/23]
5) In An April 2019 Sermon Titled “Answers For Our Times,” Johnson Said “[Medicaid]’s Supposed To Be A Temporary Hand Up To People And Not A Permanent Handout” And That The “Original Design For How Government Is Supposed To Be” Is For The Church To Be Responsible For Those Unable To Care For Themselves. [X fka Twitter, 10/30/23 (0:20)]
6) According To A Report From The AFL-CIO, Rep. Johnson Has Consistently Voted Against Pro-Labor Measures, Receiving A 0% Score From The Group In 2022. [AFL-CIO, accessed 10/26/23]
7) In 2017, Rep. Johnson Supported A Congressional Review Action (CRA) Resolution That Successfully Repealed CFPB Rulemaking Making It Easier For Consumers To File Class Action Lawsuits Against Predatory Financial Institutions. [The Advocate via Houma Today, 09/18/17]
8) While Serving As An Adjunct Professor For Liberty University Since 2018, One Of Johnson’s Assignment Prompts Asks Students To Explain How The Government Had Overstepped Biblical Principles and Described The Course As Learning About How “From An Ethical Point Of View, Limited Government And Free Workers Are Superior To Other Processes; Historically, They Are The Property Of Western Christian Civilization.” [Business Insider 10/26/23; Liberty University Govt 200 Class Assignment via SweetStudy, accessed 10/30/23; Liberty University, accessed 10/27/23]
9) November 2022: In An Interview With Jordan Peterson, Rep. Johnson Suggested That “All Controlling Government Power” Was What Caused Poverty. “What is the goal of our economic policy? What is the goal of tax policy? Why are we doing this? Well we want all boats to rise, we want more people to do better, we want to broaden the pathway out of poverty for more people. And the way you do that is to allow more of that economy to thrive. You get the all controlling centralized government power out of the way.” [Youtube, 11/28/22 (1:10:10)]
10) September 2005: Mike Johnson Claimed In An Op-Ed That Following Hurricane Katrina, Legalized Gambling And A Lack of Prayer Was Responsible For “Robberies, Rapes, And Mayhem.” [The Times via Newspapers.com, 09/03/05]
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