CHAMPAIGN — The failure of the so-called deficit reduction "supercommittee" was no surprise, U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, said Monday.

"All I can say is — and I don't take joy in saying this — I told you so," Johnson said outside his Champaign office. "That is one of the many reasons I voted against the bill that created the supercommittee. I knew this would be the result. I knew there would be logjam. I knew there would be division."

The problem with the group, he said, "is that these 12 people, some of whom are good friends of mine, are very partisan people."

The committee's members were too partisan, he said.

"I'd like to let them turn this over to the center-aisle caucus and let Chris Murphy (a Connecticut Democrat) and I be able to deal with it. We could deal with it responsibly and do it in an expeditious matter," he said. "People just don't get it in D.C. that people are angry. People should be angry."

The process "was doomed from the beginning. You appoint 12 people who are intensely partisan and expect to come up with a bipartisan solution, that's unrealistic."

There will be political ramifications from the supercommittee's failure to reduce the budget deficit, Johnson said. He was less certain the impasse would hurt the economy.

"I think the stock market and the credit rating probably built a lot of this in, but it's certainly not going to be helpful," Johnson said. "It won't help anybody who's part of the process. I believe that I have forged a reputation of somebody who is out of the mainstream, independent who opposes a lot of the excess and a lot of the partisanship in D.C. But sure, there will be ramifications."

Johnson also said he is again backing legislation known as the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act that would prohibit insider training by members of Congress. Johnson noted he was one of 14 original co-sponsors of similar legislation in 2006.

The proposal (HR 1148) has been resurrected after a recent "60 Minutes" interview with author Peter Schweitzer about how members of Congress used their position and insider information to enhance their incomes. Johnson is one of 92 co-sponsors in the House of legislation that would prohibit members of Congress and their staffs from using information not available to the public in making investment decisions.

"In recent days we've see bipartisan examples of excess and what I consider outrageous, unacceptable behavior that we simply cannot accept," he said. "Spencer Bachus (an Alabama Republican), my friend, sat in a confidential meeting about the nation's financial crisis — at least allegedly — in 2008 and then bet on option funds that would increase in value if the stock market tanked.

"Speaker Boehner was apparently involved at least indirectly with respect to the public option in the Obama health care bill. Nancy Pelosi invested in a stock offering from Visa in 2008. A bill toughening regulation in the credit card industry never made it to the floor in the House that year."

Others implicated, Johnson said, include Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.

Johnson said he "never recalled" any occasions when he was invited to invest in any insider options.

"I think I've developed a reputation as such that wouldn't be something that people would suggest to me or that would tempt me," he said. "I'm not perfect, but this is an area where I've been very, very careful in everything that I have done and I don't think anyone could point to any examples where I abused the public trust."

A recent report by the website opensecrets.org concluded that Johnson was one of about 250 members of Congress who were millionaires in calendar year 2010. He had, according to the group, a minimum net worth of $942,000 and a maximum net worth of $2.3 million. In addition to a $68,485 state legislative pension, Johnson's assets mostly were in local bank CDs, in more than 20 different stock funds, and a half-interest in a condominium in Brazil.

Johnson did not appear to own any individual stocks.