Speaker Mike Johnson Defends Congressional Stock Trading

At a time when GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson is supposed to be preparing for the upcoming midterm elections by gaslighting U.S. voters into believing President Donald Trump’s economic failures are all former President Joe Biden’s fault, video footage from about a year ago has resurfaced and gone viral, showing Johnson defending congressional leaders from allegations of insider trading, or at the very least, the appearance of impropriety, due to the buying and selling of individual stocks by the very people who are shaping the laws and policies that can affect the companies they buy stocks from.

In fact, not only did Johnson appear to be defending politicians’ right to use their positions to line their pockets, but he did so on the argument that said politicians can’t sustain their lifestyles on their six-figure salaries alone.

“Well, look, the salary of Congress has been frozen since 2009. If you adjust for inflation, a member of Congress today is making 31% less than they made that year,” Johnson said at the time. “It goes down every year, and, over time, if you stay on this trajectory, you’re going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress. I mean, people just make a reasonable decision as a family about whether they can come to Washington and have a residence here, a residence at home, and do all the things that are required. So the counterargument is, and I have some sympathy, ‘Look, at least let them, like, engage in some stock trading, so that they can continue to, you know, take care of their family.'”

So, first of all, these can’t be the same Republicans who have been telling welfare recipients to pull themselves up by their bootstraps since the Obama years, and are currently the ones nodding along with racist right-wing talking heads, who are claiming SNAP recipients are using benefits that can only be used to purchase food to “get their weaves” and nails done.

These can’t be the same so-called “fiscal conservatives,” who have been fighting the effort to raise wages, including the minimum wage, which people have advocated for largely based on the idea that wages have failed to keep up with inflation, which, according to 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, isn’t the case currently, but it had been for a long enough time that the average American’s pockets are still suffering far more than that of even a freshman congressperson.

At any rate, in a country where the median household income is less than $84,000, and the median personal income for adults is around $45,000, ain’t nobody trying to hear the whiny woes of lawmakers, the brokest of which are still making damn near $200,000 a year, especially when their salaries alone aren’t all to be factored into the financial privilege congresspeople enjoy.

From Moneywise:

Rank-and-file members of Congress make $174,000. The Speaker makes $223,500. Other top party leaders make $193,400. Those numbers haven’t moved since 2009. After inflation, that’s roughly a 30% pay cut. (6)

For 2025, Johnson scheduled the House for 136 working days in Washington. The Senate, under Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota), is scheduled for 179. (14)

Salary is one piece. Members also get federal health benefits through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, a defined-benefit pension that kicks in after five years of service, Thrift Savings Plan matching and allowances for travel and office expenses. They keep their pay during recesses and stay pension-eligible after leaving office.

Outside earned income is capped at 15% of the congressional salary. There’s no cap on investment income, book royalties or capital gains. The 2012 STOCK Act requires members to disclose financial transactions within 45 days, but enforcement has historically been limited to $200 fines for late filings.

Mind you, according to Moneywise, on the same day the video clip of Johnson resurfaced and went viral last week, “the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released filings showing President Donald Trump executed more than 3,600 stock transactions worth between $220 million and $750 million in the first quarter of 2026.”

So, when MAGA morons who currently can’t afford to drive three blocks due to soaring gas prices start boasting that their president didn’t take a salary for his second term, remind them that he still boosted his net worth by $3 billion last year, and now he’s telling reporters, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” which he said he doesn’t “not even a little bit.”

Trump currently has the worst approval ratings of any president in history, largely due to his policies making the U.S. economy worse, not better, and certainly not reflective of his promise to lower costs “on day one.” And Johnson is supposed to be turning it all around by November so that his party can maintain its slim majority in the House, but his past remarks from just a year ago are catching up to him, and the people aren’t feeling it.

November is fast approaching, good people. Look at your bank accounts, look at how your politicians are living, and at which ones are telling you to live with less while demanding more for themselves — and vote accordingly.

SEE ALSO:

Speaker Mike Johnson Is Having A Rough Go Of It Amid GOP Collapse

Trump Supporters, Sycophants Have Trump Derangement Syndrome

House Speaker Mike Johnson Defends Congressional Stock Trading was originally published on newsone.com