August 9, 2007
The 2007 RePork Card
As fascinating as Henry "Goatsie" Reynolds is, we should get back to actual policy -- and thankfully, the Club for Growth has given us a good reason to do so. Earlier today, they released their RePork Card for Congress, evaluating the members based on their votes on anti-pork legislation. Overall, both parties failed, but one failed spectacularly. Want to guess which one?
Even though the Democratic majority vowed to return Congress to a path of fiscal responsibility, the 2008 appropriations bills were stuffed with wasteful pork projects. While Representatives John Campbell, Jeff Flake, Jeb Hensarling, Scott Garrett, and David Obey (1 amendment) offered 50 amendments to strip outrageous pork projects from the appropriations bills, only one amendment, offered by Rep. Jeff Flake, passed.
The Club for Growth has compiled a RePORK Card of all members' votes on all 50 anti-pork amendments (see below). "Taxpayers have a right to know which congressmen stand up for them and which stand up for the special interests," said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. "Unfortunately, the Club for Growth RePORK Card shows that most congressmen care more about lining their buddies' pockets than they care about protecting American taxpayers."
Some interesting numbers to consider:
* Sixteen congressmen scored a perfect 100%, voting for all 50 anti-pork amendments. They are all Republicans.
* The average Republican score was 43%. The average Democratic score was 2%.
* The average score for appropriators was 4%. The average score for non-appropriators was 25%.
* Kudos to Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) who scored an admirable 98%-the only Democrat to score above 20%.
* Rep. David Obey (D-WI) did not vote for his own amendment to strike all earmarks in the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. Rep. Obey scored an embarrassing 0% overall.
* 105 congressmen scored an embarrassing 0%, voting against every single amendment. The Pork Hall of Shame includes 81 Democrats and 24 Republicans.
* The Democratic Freshmen scored an abysmal average score of 2%. Their Republican counterparts scored an average score of 78%.
Which party do you think got the message in 2006? It wasn't the Democrats, whose freshman class couldn't wait to get in and start protecting their incumbencies. While the Republicans failed overall, at least the few GOP freshmen got a B-.
Check out how long one has to scroll down the list before getting to the second-best Democrat on pork. It's Hastings of Washington, at 22%[see update below]. (By the way, Ron Paul only scores 11 places above Hastings, at 29%.) John Kline, my Congressman, scored 100%, voting against pork 50 out of 50 times. The former Marine has hung tough against pork, and his constituents appreciate it.
Kudos to the Club for staying in the fight, too. This will help identify the pork addicts, even if it isn't shaming them yet.
UPDATE: I was wrong about the second-best Democrat. Hastings is actually a Republican; the second-best Democrat is Barrow of Georgia, four places below Hastings at 20%. Thanks to CQ reader Roger M for the correction.
UPDATE II: Forgot to hat-tip Gregg at Impacted Wisdom Truth for letting me know about by missing bold tag.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on August 9, 2007 5:22 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)
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