In November 2001 thru January 2003, Johnson became vice president of the Council for Excellence in Government. She is a former official in the administration of President Bill Clinton.
Johnson's nomination languished for months after Missouri Sen. Kit Bond placed a hold on her nomination over concerns he had about why the GSA wasn't closing down the federally owned Bannister Complex outside Kansas City, Missouri and relocating staff to leased space in downtown Kansas City.
On February 3, 2010, Obama, in an unusual move for a sitting president, sharply criticized Bond and Republican senators for blocking Johnson's nomination, and complained that Republicans were blocking nominees for reasons that have nothing to do with their qualifications for their prospective jobs.
Obama said:
"Nobody can tell me that there's anything particularly wrong with her. They're blocking her because of some unrelated matter. Don't hold this — this woman hostage. If you have an objection about my health-care policies, then let's debate the health-care policies. But don't suddenly end up having a GSA administrator who is stuck in limbo somewhere because you don't like something else that we're doing."
On April 2, 2012, Martha Johnson submitted her resignation to the White House due to overspending at a training conference held in October 2010 at a Las Vegas, NV hotel.