CCAGW 2005 Congressional Ratings

Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today released its 2005 Congressional Ratings.  For 17 years, CCAGW has examined roll-call votes to separate the taxpayer advocates in Congress from those who favor wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending. 

The 2005 Congressional Ratings cover the voting year 2005, or the first session of the 109th Congress.  CCAGW rated 34 key votes in the House and 24 key votes in the Senate.  Votes included a budget reconciliation bill that will save a $39.7 billion over five years in mandatory programs, a tax reconciliation bill that would protect the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, reforms in class action lawsuits, the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and affirming the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommendations. 

The entire House had an average of 45 percent a six point increase over 2004.   House Republicans averaged 73 percent; House Democrats averaged 13 percent.  The entire Senate had an average of 46 percent also a six point increase over 2004.  Senate Republicans averaged 68 percent; Senate Democrats averaged 18 percent. 

There were two Taxpayer Super Heroes with a score of 100 percent:  Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) in the Senate and Ed Royce (R-Calif.) in the House.  Taxpayer Heroes are members who scored between 80 and 99 percent.  The total number of Heroes and Super Heroes in the House dropped from 59 in 2004 to 52 in 2005.  The number of Heroes and Super Heroes in the Senate remained the same at 10. 

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“Talk is cheap,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “The voting record is the best way to measure a member’s commitment to fiscal discipline.  Unlike the Taxpayer Super Heroes and Heroes, too many members of Congress demonstrate little regard for the harmfull effects of a large and cumbersome federal government.”

CCAGW’s website features the complete 2005 Congressional Ratings, including vote descriptions, scorecards for the House and Senate, personalized scorecards for each member of Congress, historical comparisons, and averages by chamber, party, and state delegation.  Visit www.cagw.org 

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

Since 1989, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) has examined Congressional roll-call votes to determine which members of Congress are voting in the interest of taxpayers.  Our goal is to applaud the members who want to protect our tax dollars and cut spending.  At the same time, CAGW wants to alert the taxpaying public to those who prefer big government and using public funds for pet programs and pork-barrel spending.

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As a result of lobbying, ethics scandals, and increased scrutiny of pork-barrel projects that were slipped into authorization and appropriations bills, it would make sense that the 2005 Congressional Ratings would have shown significant improvement over 2004.  Unfortunately for taxpayers, there was minimal progress.  Congress, particularly the Senate, turned a tin ear to taxpayers and voted for more wasteful spending.

For the first session of the 109th Congress, CCAGW rated 34 key votes in the House and 24 key votes in the Senate.  Votes in the Senate and the House included a budget reconciliation bill that will save a $39.7 billion over five years in mandatory programs, a tax reconciliation bill that would protect the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, reforms in class action lawsuits, the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and affirming the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommendations.  CCAGW rated votes concerning legislation to spend $286.5 billion for road construction that includes $24.2 billion for pork projects, such as the “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska.  As for the fiscal 2006 appropriations bills, the 2006 Congressional Pig Book cited a new record of $29 billion in spending for pork-barrel projects.

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CCAGW also included in the ratings numerous votes that would have cut spending.  For example, in the House, amendments to several appropriations bills were offered by Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) that would have cut spending across-the-board by 1 percent.  They all failed.  There is no doubt taxpayers could find a penny’s worth of savings for every dollar they spent, but it appears their elected officials in Washington cannot.  In the Senate, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) offered ten amendments to bring more accountability to the appropriations process or prohibit the use, or transfer, of funds from a variety of pork-barrel projects in several appropriations bills.  All but two of these amendments were defeated.

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In 2004, there were no Taxpayer Super Heroes (a score of 100 percent) in the Senate, but in 2005, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) was able to make the grade.  In the House, only one member, Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) scored 100 percent.  (Two other members also scored 100 percent, Reps. John Campbell [R-Calif.] and Rob Portman [R-Ohio] but they were not in Congress long enough to warrant an official ranking.)  In 2004, there were 59 representatives who were Taxpayer Heroes (a score of 80 percent or more), but in 2005 there were only 52.  In the Senate, the number of Taxpayer Heroes was 10 in 2004 and that number remained the same in 2005.

In the House, the Democrat with the highest score was Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) with 47 percent.  In the Senate, the highest scoring Democrat was Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) with 46 percent.

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The average score for Republicans in the House was 73 percent, an increase of 10 points from the 63 percent they scored in 2004.  Members of the Republican Study Committee, a group that advocates for a limited and constitutional role for the federal government, scored an average of 79 percent.  For House Democrats, the average was 13 percent, two points higher than their 2004 score of 11 percent.  The Blue Dogs are a social and economic group of conservatives in the Democratic Caucus.  Their average in 2005 was 24 percent.  The entire House had an average of 45 percent, 6 points higher than the 39 percent average in 2004.

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In the Senate, the average for Republicans was 68 percent, a five point increase from 63 percent in 2004.  For Senate Democrats, the average was 18 percent, a two point increase from their 2004 score of 16 percent.  The entire Senate had an average of 46 percent for 2005, 6 points higher than the chamber’s 40 percent score in 2004.

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Only one member in the House, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), had a zero percent ranking.  Following close behind with a score of 3 percent were Reps. Chaka Fattah (D-Penn.), Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Sander Levin (D-Mich.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Brad Miller (D-N.C.), James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.).  The lowest scoring Republicans were Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), Tim Johnson (R-Ill.), Robert Simmons (R-Conn.), and Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) at 44 percent each.

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The lowest score in the Senate was 4 percent, obtained by seven Democratic senators: Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).  For the Republicans, the lowest score of 33 percent went to Sen. Lincoln Chaffee (R-R.I.). 

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CCAGW believes that the most important votes passed last year concerned budget reconciliation.  The total savings in mandatory programs amount to $39.7 billion over five years.  It was the first time since 1997 that Congress enacted savings in programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs.  But even though the $39.7 billion was far less than the amount contained in past reconciliation bills in 1990 Congress voted for $447 billion in savings (inflation adjusted) in mandatory programs it was still a struggle to get this modest amount passed.  Not one Democrat voted for the reconciliation bill, not even the Blue Dog Democrats, who claim to be fiscal conservatives.

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Taxpayers are starting to show their anger across the country with elected officials that spend their money foolishly.  In Herndon, Va., voters threw out of office most of the city council members, including the mayor, that approved the use of tax dollars to fund a day-labor center that caters to illegal aliens.  In Pennsylvania, voters sent packing the Senate majority leader and Senate pro tempore who led a middle-of-the-night pay raise for legislators.  Recent polling data suggests that voters are upset with lawmakers and their out-of-control spending.  It is “incumbents beware” come Election Day on November 7, 2006.

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Members of Congress, particularly the majority, should listen to what their constituents are saying about wasteful over-spending.  To do otherwise and ignore taxpayers would not be a prudent decision.