Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today released its 2008 Congressional Ratings, drawing attention to the outstanding voting records of dozens of members of Congress who consistently work to protect tax dollars, as well as the congressional bottom dwellers whose votes were hostile to the interests of taxpayers and contributed to a tsunami of new, wasteful spending and an increasingly bloated bureaucracy. 

CCAGW’s 2008 Congressional Ratings scored 48 votes in the House and 42 votes in the Senate.  The average for the entire House was 35 percent, and the average for the Senate was 38 percent.  Since 1989, CCAGW has tracked roll call votes to separate the taxpayer advocates in Congress from those who favor wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending.

The 2008 Congressional Ratings cover the voting year 2008, the second session of the 110^th Congress.  CCAGW rates members on a 0 to 100 percent scale.  Members are placed in the following categories: 0-19% Hostile; 20-39% Unfriendly; 40-59% Lukewarm; 60-79% Friendly; 80-99% Taxpayer Hero; 100% Taxpayer Super Hero.

CCAGW’s website, www.ccagw.org, features the complete 2008 Congressional Ratings, including vote descriptions, scorecards for the House and Senate, and averages by chamber, party, and state delegation. 

In the House, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) was the sole “Taxpayer Super Hero” with a grade of 100 percent.  In 2008, there were 59 House “Taxpayer Heroes” with a grade of 80 percent or above (the same as last year).  The big difference was in the number of members with a perfectly abysmal score of zero.  In 2008, the number of members with a score of zero skyrocketed to 34, up from only two in 2007.  That represents a 1,600 percent increase and an indication of growing partisanship, as all of them are Democrats.  House Democrats scored an average of 6 percent; House Republicans scored an average of 70 percent. 

In the Senate, the average for Democrats was 4 percent, and Republicans averaged 72 percent.  There were no “Taxpayer Super Heroes” (scoring 100 percent) in the Senate.  There were a total of 14 “Taxpayer Heroes.”  The two highest scores were achieved by Senators Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) at 98 percent.  There were 17 senators with a score of zero, compared to 13 in 2007. 

“Members of Congress who scored 80 percent and above are to be applauded for their exceptional efforts to hold the line against a political culture biased in favor of more wasteful sending.  The country is facing a record $1.6 trillion budget deficit and $11.8 trillion national debt and many members of Congress continue to spend taxpayer money as if the recession never occurred.  The 2008 Congressional Ratings show that many elected officials have little regard for the harmful effect a large and cumbersome federal government has on taxpayers’ wallets.  Taxpayers should be grateful for the voting records of the Taxpayer Heroes; their records stand as a bulwark against the profligacy of the institution as a whole.  We commend them,” concluded Schatz. 

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.