Nancy Johnson

Former U.S. Representative Nancy Johnson (R-CT) is a senior public policy advisor in Baker Donelson’s Washington, DC, office and a member of the firm’s federal public policy group. She focuses on health care, tax, and trade matters on behalf of Baker Donelson clients.

Representative Johnson served 24 years in Congress, from 1983 to 2007, representing the 5th district of Connecticut, following six years of service in the Connecticut State Senate. The most senior woman in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 109th Congress, she is a recognized authority on health policy. Hailed by the nonpartisan Almanac of American Politics as “one of the most active and productive legislators in the House,” Representative Johnson’s legislative accomplishments include a variety of matters related to health care, children, taxes, manufacturing, and the environment. She coauthored the national Children’s Health Insurance Program, was a principal author of the Medicare Modernization Act, and authored several taxpayer rights bills as chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee. As a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a free-trade proponent, Representative Johnson played an integral role in passage of every major tax bill, trade agreement, and health care initiative during her tenure on the committee.

In support of manufacturing and small business, Representative Johnson focused on tax incentives to invest, including increasing expensing for small business, modernizing depreciation law to support high-tech manufacturing, authoring the alternative research and development credit to support product development by startups, and reformed the low income housing tax credit to improve affordable housing options. She was a consistent advocate for the federal program that assists small manufacturers in improving quality and productivity and of lower tax rates to maintain entrepreneurial vitality.

Representing a trading state, Representative Johnson introduced and worked for passage of trade negotiating authority, agreements expanding market access, and laws strengthening enforcement of intellectual property rights, anti-dumping, and other fair-trade initiatives. She worked to increase funding for Department of Commerce export promotion and support services and for the Foreign Commercial Service and was a strong support of the Export-Import Bank. She provided extensive constituent services to those needing to be heard by the U.S. Trade Representative or other federal agencies and worked closely with companies to better inform their employees regarding trade, tax, and other issues affecting their competitiveness and future.