The congressman from the 3rd District is Sam Johnson, a conservative Republican first elected in 1991.He has a prominent perch from which to weigh in on Social Security as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee panel that oversees the program. Read More

The congressman from the 3rd District is Sam Johnson, a conservative Republican first elected in 1991.He has a prominent perch from which to weigh in on Social Security as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee panel that oversees the program.

Johnson grew up in Dallas and graduated from Southern Methodist University and George Washington University. He was a director of the Air Force Fighter Weapons (Top Gun) School, and as a fighter pilot, flew 87 combat missions during the wars in Korea and Vietnam. After his F-4 was shot down over North Vietnam during his 25th mission, he was imprisoned from 1966 to 1973 in the “Hanoi Hilton,” where he spent 42 months in solitary confinement. He weighed 120 pounds upon his release, having subsisted on river weeds and pig fat, and was left with a slight stoop in his walk and a disfigured hand. In 2009, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society gave him its highest civilian honor, the National Patriots Award. On his return, Johnson started a homebuilding company and was elected to the Texas House in 1984.

He was elected to Congress in a 1991 special election, after Republican Steve Bartlett resigned to become mayor of Dallas. Johnson ran second in the primary, behind former Peace Corps director Tom Pauken. In the runoff, he emphasized his war record and won 53%-47% over Pauken. He won the general election without difficulty.

Johnson was among the lawmakers tied for the House’s most conservative member in 2010, according to National Journal’s rankings. He was a founder of the Conservative Action Team, now known as the Republican Study Committee, which has pressed Republican leaders to support goals ranging from a balanced budget amendment to shutting down the National Endowment for the Arts.

His chief source of concern is taxation. Every two years, he offers a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment, which authorized the federal income tax. On Ways and Means, where he is the third-most senior Republican, Johnson in January 2011 raised the specter of the U.S. “corporate structure” incrementally relocating overseas to avoid U.S. rates if the tax code is not reformed. He also suggested that one goal should be requiring everyone, including lower-income earners, to pay income tax. Earlier, he sponsored the successful repeal in 2000 of the earnings limit for Social Security recipients, and he was a leading proponent of pension reform that was enacted in 2006.

Johnson has also focused on military issues. He has staunchly opposed setting arbitrary troop withdrawal deadlines in Afghanistan. Johnson gained national attention in February 2007 when he spoke emotionally on the House floor against a plan by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi to set a timetable to withdraw from Iraq. Invoking his memories of Vietnam, he said, “I know what it’s like to be far from home and hear that your country and your Congress don’t care about you.” Even though he and McCain, who was also a Vietnam prisoner of war, shared a cell for 18 months, they have had a chilly political relationship. Johnson strongly backed Bush in the 2000 primaries, stating that McCain “cannot hold a candle to George Bush.”

On other defense matters, he helped to enact the Military Family Tax Relief Act of 2003, which doubled the death benefit for families of active service members who pass away and also reduced taxes for those families. Johnson has been a defender of the F-22 fighter jet, partly produced at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth near his district and the subject of intense debates over whether the program should continue.

In 2008, Johnson was re-elected with 60% of the vote against a poorly financed foe. This was his smallest share of the vote since his first win. He rebounded with a 66%-31% win in 2010. He represents an overpopulated district whose lines will be redrawn for 2012, and though he’s unlikely to face any political trouble, speculation about his retirement has increased since he entered his 80s.