Washington, D.C. (April 15, 2004) - According to the widely-anticipated annual Rating of Congress released today by the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU), the average lawmaker still voted less than half the time to reduce or control the federal burden on taxpayers.
In 2002, just 36 lawmakers attained scores sufficient to win the "Taxpayers' Friend Award." True "high performers" in Congress became even rarer in 2003 -- just 29 lawmakers attained scores sufficient to win the "Taxpayers' Friend Award" (at least 74 percent in the House/80 percent in the Senate). However, 185 Senators and Representatives posted 2003 scores that were so low they were tagged "Big Spenders" (25 percent or less in the House or Senate).
Among the recipients this year was Congressman Jeff Miller (R-Fl-01), who ranked number 3 out of 435 Members of Congress, based on their support of responsible tax and spending policies. Miller also ranked number 1 among the 25 Florida Members of Congress.
Unlike those of other organizations, NTU's annual Rating does not simplistically focus on only a handful of equally-weighted "key votes." For this reason, it has received praise from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The Rating is based on every roll call vote affecting fiscal policy (287 House and 269 Senate votes, a 25-year high), and assigns a "Taxpayer Score" to each Member of Congress that indicates his or her commitment to reducing or controlling federal spending, taxes, debt, and regulation.
The 350,000-member NTU is a non-partisan citizen organization working for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and accountable government at all levels. Note: The 2003 Rating, along with a searchable Rating database from the years 1992-2003, are both available online at www.ntu.org.
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