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Bill Johnson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

Key

Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.

Bill Johnson did not provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2022 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.

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Issue Positions

For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2022.

  • "Instead of offering her congratulations, the first thing Bill's 85-year old mom said to him after he won election (without having served in public office before) was "Bill, you better protect my Medicare and Social Security." Bill believes that current seniors, just like his mother, paid into these critical programs, and the federal government has an obligation to ensure that seniors in and near retirement will receive their Social Security and Medicare benefits without any change -- and, that their benefits will be fully funded." (votesmart.org)
  • "It's not enough to simply fund our agencies and programs at arbitrary -- and often politically expedient -- spending levels. It's not enough to let our mandatory spending programs -- Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security -- go on autopilot until they become insolvent and further explode the national debt. We have real opportunities, and I'd argue the responsibility, to preserve and strengthen these vital programs so that they work better and drive down the debt." (votesmart.org)
  • Rated 0% by Alliance for Retired Americans. (votesmart.org)
  • "The Building a Better America budget balances by 2027, promotes economic growth, ensures a strong national defense, improves the sustainability of Medicare, and reforms federal programs by improving accountability. Importantly, this budget strengthens programs like Medicare and Social Security that seniors and some of our most vulnerable citizens rely on -- and we must ensure that these programs continue for future generations." (votesmart.org)
  • "Liberal U.S. House Democrats are out to control our rights of free speech, and they want power and control over how our political and voting processes work. H.R. 1 is titled "For the People Act", but really it should be called the "For the Politicians' Act', because at its core, the legislation is designed to silence anyone who disagrees with them. I emphatically voted no on this dangerous bill. Changing the national campaign finance system to benefit themselves, taking constitutionally mandated election authorities away from the states, and restricting the rights of free speech are all a part of an unprecedented power grab." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Rated 0% by Common Cause. (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 1 "For the People Act of 2021." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 1280 "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021." (votesmart.org)
  • "I was pleased to serve as an NDAA Conferee from the Budget Committee. I signed the report on Monday and I’m glad that it passed the House floor today. " (twitter.com)
  • "This legislation provides essential funding for America's military and their families through Fiscal Year 2018, and ensures our brave warriors are well-equipped to confront growing threats abroad. Specifically, the NDAA provides $700 billion to equip, supply, and train our soldiers, permanently preserves surviving spouse benefits to more than 60,000 military families, and gives our troops their largest pay raise in 8 years." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of S 1605 "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of S 1790 "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020." (votesmart.org)
  • "America is long overdue for an upgrade to our outdated, and in some cases crumbling infrastructure, which has been neglected for decades. I am heartened to see that a significant chunk of the money in the President's plan would be invested in rural America. Those of us in Eastern and Southeastern Ohio are well-aware of the many challenges we face with the condition of our bridges, roads, water systems, sewer systems, and limited access to broadband." (votesmart.org)
  • Rated 89% by Council for Citizens Against Government Waste. (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 3684 "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 5376 "Build Back Better Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "Congress is continuing to surge funding and resources to our hospital systems and provide financial stability for American families and small businesses during unstable and unprecedented times. The CARES Act is a critical phase 3 in the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak. By beefing up funding directly to hospitals, they can ramp up the capacity to diagnose and treat patients." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Returned to Washington yesterday for a @housebudgetGOP hearing to discuss the economic impacts of #COVID?19. There is no question that the virus has negatively impacted our economy, but we cannot let the pandemic be a justification for more massive federal spending." (twitter.com)
  • Voted against HR 1319 "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 266 - Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act. (votesmart.org)
  • "Madam Speaker, we must get our fiscal house in order. The American people have to live by a budget, and the American government should live by a budget, too. The United States does not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. And the first step in fixing this problem is to fix our broken budget process. That is why I am proud to be a cosponsor of H.R. 2575, the TRUST Act, to establish special rescue committees to begin developing recommendations and legislation to protect and ensure the longevity of Social Security and Medicare. These are some of the country's main drivers of our debt. They are mandatory spending programs that are absolutely out of control. Doing nothing about it is not an option." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "President Biden’s reckless government spending, regulatory overreach, and failure to contain COVID are directly responsible for this rampant inflation. While he says he wants to help fix this crisis (of his own making), his actions tell a different story" (twitter.com)
  • "Two things are driving inflation right now," Johnson said. "One of them is the amount of cash coming into the system. The Biden administration has spent over $6 trillion since coming into office. That is crazy. We can't spend that kind of money. I've had county commissioners, township trustees, and mayors telling me don't spend any more money. We can't spend the money that you've already sent." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 5376 "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022" (votesmart.org)
  • "What about the millions of Americans who have already paid their student loans off or chose not to go to college because of the expense? They're going to be on the hook for this massive government bailout." (twitter.com)
  • "Didn’t go to college or already paid off your debt? Too bad. Democrats want you to foot the bill for student loans someone else took out voluntarily." (twitter.com)
  • "If the government starts cancelling student loan debt, I fear we will reverse the progress we've made in this area, and more people who aren't sure about college will decide to take the chance, knowing that someone else will pay the bill. Ultimately, student loan debt is going to be repaid by someone, and the government should not transfer the financial burden of a student's decision to take out college loans onto American taxpayers who had no input on that decision. The money must come from somewhere, and that somewhere is from you, the taxpayer. The millions of Americans who repaid their student loans, borrowed responsibly, chose not to go to college because of the expense or joined the military to help earn a degree will be on the hook to pay for this massive bailout." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 2547 "Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "H.R. 1 would attempt to override this constitutional mandate in that it would: prevent state election officials from checking the eligibility and qualifications of voters; eliminate the states' ability to remove ineligible voters from their voter rolls; and ban state voter ID laws. It's not talked about much in the press, but the bill would also reduce the number of Federal Election Commission members from six to five, allowing the political party with three commission seats to control the commissions decisions and engage in partisan election law enforcement activities. The FEC is a federal commission that has always been -- and should always be -- split evenly between the parties." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 5746 "Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "In order to achieve energy dominance, we must move full speed ahead on domestic oil and natural gas development and coal production, but we also must begin expanding our nuclear footprint and determine what role market-driven innovations in wind and solar power and other renewable technologies will play in that equation. America has significant energy resources, and if Washington would get out of the way and let the private market drive energy innovations, we would learn to produce, store, distribute, and use energy in ways we've never imagined--it's called "American Exceptionalism"." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "This is all designed to generate so-called "clean power", and a "clean economy." But after handing global energy dominance to China, Russia, and Iran will America have a clean conscience when this is all over? If the EVs, solar panels, and batteries we will discuss today have components that are made by slaves in China, or if the reports are true that lithium, copper, and rare earth minerals critical for a "clean" economy could start coming from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, then you can count me out. I mean--Is all of this worth effectively sanctioning our own economy, and handing our energy sovereignty to China? And China is building hundreds -- that's HUNDREDS -- of new coal fired power plants right now, presumably to manufacture critical components for America's so called "green" economy." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 4447 "Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 9 "Climate Action Now Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "Bill Johnson has consistently stood up against unelected Washington bureaucrats who seek to kill Ohio coal jobs. That is why he authored H.J. Res., 38, which stopped the Obama Administration's massive federal-overreaching, anti-coal regulations from going into effect, and helped maintain state and local control over our natural energy resources." (votesmart.org)
  • "Good news for coal families. RT @YahooNews #SCOTUS blocks President Obama's carbon emissions plan" (twitter.com)
  • "Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight my amendment that the minority refuses to even bring to a vote. My amendment is simple. It would amend this so-called Inflation Reduction Act by striking from the bill the Methane Emissions Reduction Program, which is a fancy term for what could be more accurately described as attacks on American natural gas. In my district in eastern and southeastern Ohio, oil and gas workers get up every day to produce our valuable natural resources that are used to generate electricity, power manufacturing, heat and cool our homes, cook our food, and more recently, to use our American natural gas to rescue our European allies who now find themselves under Vladimir Putin's tyrannical thumb. This methane tax jeopardizes all of this, and it represents yet another attack by the majority on American fossil fuels that have brought more people out of poverty around the world than any other energy source around the planet." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 1119 - SENSE Act. (votesmart.org)
  • "As a gun owner, concealed carry permit holder, and lifetime member of the NRA, Bill Johnson knows that our Second Amendment rights are fundamental and must be protected. He is opposed to any measures that would restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans, especially those that include any limitations on the right to keep and bear arms. Furthermore, for Ohioans, we should protect concealed carry laws and expand state-to-state reciprocity." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "Passing gun control laws do not stop criminals. They only hinder law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves. #JointSession" (twitter.com)
  • Voted against S 2938 "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "When politicians push for "gun control", remember the violence of the last few weeks: businesses destroyed, police outmanned, and innocent people hurt and killed. The lawless should never have an advantage over the law-abiding. The Second Amendment must be protected." (twitter.com)
  • Voted in favor of HR 1628 "American Health Care Act of 2017." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 6201 "Families First Coronavirus Response Act" (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 3 "Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019" (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 6833 "The Affordable Insulin Now Act" (votesmart.org)
  • Rated 84% by NumbersUSA. (votesmart.org)
  • "Importantly, the other component of the President's plan includes more border wall construction, to be financed by new fees on trade collected at the border. I've stated over and over that I am open to immigration reform -- as long as it is accompanied by real, tangible border security up front. Without security upgrades at our southern border, we'll continue to face the same problems in the future that we do today." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Signed Letter to President Biden: "For the sake of public health, rule of law, and the security of this nation, we urge you to keep Title 42 in place. We also request an in-person Member-level briefing with senior Administration officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and DHS on your Administration's rationale for ending Title 42 and actions it intends to take to improve border security and deter illegal immigration at our southern border." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 6136 "Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018" (votesmart.org)
  • "Congressman Bill Johnson (R-Marietta) released the following statement after the passage of H.R. 3003 -- No Sanctuary for Criminals Act; and, H.R. 3004 -- Kate's Law. Both pieces of bipartisan legislation would reform the broken immigration system and create tougher penalties for illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds in the United States: "Today the House of Representatives took necessary action to address some of America's most pressing immigration challenges." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "President Biden has made it official: he will completely end Title 42, a Trump Administration initiative that keeps asylum seekers in Mexico due to COVID concerns. Enforcement of Title 42 was one of America's strongest tools to deter the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. This move by Biden will result in our southern border being officially and totally open. The Border Patrol is already overwhelmed with illegal immigration, human trafficking, crime, and dangerous drugs streaming across our border due to Biden's lack of enforcement. Now, paired with his decision to halt construction of the border wall and reinstitution of the Obama-era "catch and release' policy, Biden's elimination of Title 42 will make matters even worse - it's another clear signal for illegal immigrants to come on in." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 3003 "No Sanctuary for Criminals Act." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 3004 "Kate's Law." (votesmart.org)
  • "I call on President Biden and his team, working with our allies across the globe, to impose immediate, tougher -- as harsh as possible - sanctions and export controls to create more of an effective deterrent on Putin's tyranny. What has been tried thus far clearly did not work. There are millions of innocent civilians who don't want conflict. There are no winners in war, only horrific death and catastrophic destruction. We pray that the Ukrainian people will muster the courage and strength they need in this dark time." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 1698 "Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act" (votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 4695 "Protect Against Conflict by Turkey (PACT) Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "When the Iran deal was signed by President Obama, it was a parade of American concessions, which I opposed. I stated that no deal was preferable to a bad deal. That's still the case today, and it's why I support the United States withdrawing from the Iran deal and President Trump's decision to reinstate crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime. Much of the damage has already been done by infusing the Iranian regime, an unapologetic sponsor of terrorism, with billions of dollars -- while asking them to make no meaningful concessions of their own. It's now clear that the regime has been lying about their past nuclear work, which is no surprise to anyone who knows anything about Iran's recent history." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Signed Letter to President Biden: "Despite heroic and skillful resistance by Ukrainian forces, Russia currently retains air superiority over Ukraine. Russia's advantage in this domain could soon develop into air dominance if the Ukrainians do not receive necessary military aid. We believe that Stinger missiles will continue to be critical in combating Russia's superiority in the air. With Russia's alarming disregard for Ukrainian civilian casualties, the U.S. must also help supply more comprehensive air defense systems to defend Ukraine and its people. Specifically, the U.S. must work with our NATO allies who possess the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to facilitate and expedite the transfer of these systems to Ukraine. Providing Soviet-era platforms that Ukrainian servicemembers have previously operated and maintained will be essential to their success on the battlefield and will also protect U.S. defense technology from falling into the hands of the Russians." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of S 3522 "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022" (votesmart.org)
  • Rated 83% by National Tax Limitation Committee. (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "This destructive budget bill will greenlight anti-domestic energy policies that will end the production and use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, and will destroy tens of thousands of American energy-related jobs along the way. It will also allow the Democrats to unilaterally pass massive tax hikes, pave the way for amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants, and make sweeping, destructive cuts to America's military without even one Republican vote. Further, it will decimate American jobs and cause inflation to surge even more -- raising costs of everyday necessities on Ohio families who are already suffering in Joe Biden's economy. As this legislation takes shape, I will continue to pursue every avenue to fight against the far-left's latest attempt to jam through Bernie Sanders' dream budget." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • "This is an historic week for the American people. For the first time in over 30 years, real tax relief and reform will be delivered. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will reduce taxes at every income level, double the standard deduction and child tax credit, and empower businesses to grow and hire more people. Important deductions for home mortgage interest, student loan interest, and charitable donations remain. Most importantly, the middle class -- hardworking Americans that are too-often left behind -- will see tremendous tax relief. This legislation delivers higher wages, lower taxes, bigger take-home paychecks, a simpler and fairer system, and a stronger economy across the board." (justfacts.votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 1 "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "The announcement today is a positive step forward for the aluminum industry. I look forward to continue working with this Administration to address Chinese overcapacity issues, as well as helping to bring USMCA across the finish line." (votesmart.org)
  • "The President expressed willingness to welcome foreign investment from those nations who treat American workers fairly, but he makes it more expensive to do business in America for those countries who do not. I was pleased that President Trump listened to my concerns, and the concerns of many of my colleagues, in providing flexibility to America's friends and allies who want to do business here fairly. While we need to protect domestic production of critical resources like steel and aluminum, it is also important that foreign investment in the U.S., including important job-creating projects in our region, continue to move forward. I will be following the implementation details of the President's proposal very closely." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of HR 5430 "United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act." (votesmart.org)
  • "We've been waiting for months for Speaker Pelosi to put the American people first and allow the House to vote on #USMCA - I voted YES on this trade deal secured by @realDonaldTrump that would modernize trade with our neighbors. A huge win for Ohioans, Americans and our economy!" (twitter.com)

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