The New "Freedom Index" for Current Congress; Constitutional Scorecard

[FrankRep]

The Freedom Index:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/Freedom_Index_111-3.pdf


Ron Paul - 100% rating!


Third "Freedom Index" for Current Congress (http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/congress/3832-third-freedom-index-for-current-congress)


TNA Staff | The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
Wednesday, 23 June 2010


The just-published (July 5) issue of The New American includes our third congressional scorecard (pdf (http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/Freedom_Index_111-3.pdf)) on the 111th Congress. The scorecard, entitled “The Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution,” rates Congressmen based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.

Each installment of the “Freedom Index” shows how U.S. Representatives and Senators voted on 10 key issues. Our just-published index includes votes on healthcare reform (ObamaCare), financial regulatory reform, extending provisions of the Patriot Act, withdrawing U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan, increasing the national debt ceiling, and jobs funding.

The average House score for our new index (votes 21-30) is a dismal 40 percent, and the average Senate score is 38 percent, despite the fact that every Congressman takes an oath to uphold the Constitution. In the House, three congressmen — J. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina, John Duncan of Tennessee, and Ron Paul of Texas — earned perfect scores, while in the Senate 12 Senators earned 100 percent. Of course, if congressmen would simply abide by their oaths of office, all of them should be earning top scores based on our "Freedom Index" ratings.

Yet the number of congressmen earning 100-percent scores in the current Congress is actually encouraging compared to the number of top scorers in past Congresses. For instance, in the last "Freedom Index" for the previous Congress (October 27, 2008 issue), only one Congressman — Ron Paul — earned 100 percent in the House and nobody did in the Senate. One factor for the increase in 100-percent-scoring Congressmen is the simple fact that, with Barack Obama in the White House, many Republicans who supported big-government programs favored by George W. Bush and Republican congressional leaders are now casting votes against Obama and Democrat-supported legislation. The Republican votes against ObamaCare (House vote numbers 27 and 29 and Senate vote numbers 25 and 28 in our new "Freedom Index") is a case in point

To download a free copy of the “Freedom Index” from our July 5 issue, click here (http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/Freedom_Index_111-3.pdf). Please examine how your own U.S. representative and senators voted on each key issue, as well as overall. We also encourage readers to commend legislators for their constitutional votes and to urge improvement where needed.

Additional Resources:

For downloadable copies of our first (votes 1-10) and second (votes 11-20) Freedom Indexes for the 111th Congress, click here (http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/Freedom_Index_111-1.pdf) and here (http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/Freedom_Index_111-2.pdf) respectively.


SOURCE:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/congress/3832-third-freedom-index-for-current-congress

[FrankRep]

Criteria Used:


21: Omnibus Appropriations


This catch-all legislative package (H.R. 3288) is comprised of six appropriations bills for fiscal 2010 that Congress failed to complete separately — Commerce- Justice Science; Financial Services; Labor-HHS-Education; Military Construction- VA; State-Foreign Operations; and Transportation-HUD. The total price tag in the final version (conference report) of H.R. 3288 is about $1.1 trillion, including $447 billion in discretionary spending.

The House adopted the conference report on H.R. 3288 on December 10, 2009 by a vote of 221-202 (Roll Call 949). We have assigned pluses to the nays because
many of the bill’s spending programs — e.g., education, housing, foreign aid, etc. — are unconstitutional. Moreover, lawmakers should have been able to vote on component parts of the total package.


22: Financial Regulatory Reform


This legislation (H.R. 4173), described by the Washington Times as “the most sweeping regulatory overhaul of the nation’s financial sector since the new Deal,” would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and in general tighten federal control of the financial sector on the false premise that the financial crisis was driven by free-market forces, as opposed to government and Fed policies (e.g., artificially low interest rates) that encouraged excessive borrowing and risk-taking.

The House passed H.R. 4173 on December 11, 2009 by a vote of 223-202 (Roll Call 968). We have assigned pluses to the nays because more government control of the economy will do more harm than good.


23: Jobs Funding


This legislation (H.R. 2847) would appropriate $154.4 billion for infrastructure and jobs programs to aid state and local governments. Nearly half of the money would be redirected from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The money for the jobs programs would have to be siphoned out of the economy in the first place and so would result in a loss of jobs in the economy as a whole in order to create other jobs in government-favored sectors, based on the premise that government can allocate resources better than the private sector. As Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) noted during floor debate on this bill, “You cannot spend your way into more jobs, you cannot borrow your way into more jobs.”

The House agreed to the jobs funding on December 16, 2009 by a vote of 217-212 (Roll Call 991). We have assigned pluses to the nays because spending federal dollars to create jobs is unsustainable and unconstitutional.


24: Debt Limit Increase


This bill (House Joint Resolution 45) would raise the national debt limit from $12.4 trillion to $14.29 trillion — a $1.9 trillion increase. This increase, reported Congressional Quarterly, “should be large enough to cover borrowing into early next year.” Really? To put this astronomical $1.9 trillion increase in perspective, consider that the total national debt did not top $1 trillion until 1981.

The House approved the debt limit increase on February 4, 2010 by a vote of 233-187 (Roll Call 48). We have assigned pluses to the nays because raising the national debt allows the federal government to borrow more money and continue its gross fiscal irresponsibility.


25: Patriot Act


This bill (H.R. 3961) would extend by one year three Patriot Act provisions that were set to expire on February 28, 2010. The provisions allow the federal government to exercise wide-ranging surveillance and seizure powers with few limitations. For instance, the records provision allows the government to obtain “any tangible thing” that, it says, has “relevance” to a terrorism investigation. “Relevance” is a much lower standard — if it can even be called a standard at all — than the “probable cause” and a court warrant standard explicitly required by the Fourth Amendment.

The House agreed to extend the provisions on February 25, 2010 by a vote of 315-97 (Roll Call 67). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the provisions violate the right of the people to (in the words of the Fourth Amendment) “be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”


26: Withdrawing U.S. Soldiers From Afghanistan


This legislation (House Concurrent Resolution 248) would direct the President to remove the U.S. Armed Forces from Afghanistan within 30 days of enactment, or by the end of the year if the President determines they cannot be safely removed sooner.

The House rejected H. Con. Res. 248 on March 10, 2010 by a vote of 65 to 356 (Roll Call 98). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan cannot be justified on the basis of defending the United States, there has been no declaration of war, and Congress needs to assert constitutional authority to decide when we do go to war.


27: ObamaCare


This historic bill (H.R. 3590), officially titled the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” went on to be signed into law (Public Law 111-148) by President Obama on March 23, 2010. Popularly known as “ObamaCare,” this bill essentially completed the government takeover of the American healthcare system that was begun with Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The ObamaCare law creates 159 new government agencies, which will inevitably drive private healthcare insurers out of the market, just as its pilot program, RomneyCare, is already beginning to do in Massachusetts. Although its official cost estimate was $1 trillion for the first 10 years, ObamaCare will soon join Medicare and Medicaid in the list of unfunded healthcare liabilities of the federal government, which together add up to tens of trillions of dollars. See Senate vote #25 for more information.

The House agreed to a motion to concur with the Senate version of H.R. 3590 on March 21, 2010 by a vote of 219-212 (Roll Call 165). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the federal government has no constitutional authority to require individuals to purchase health insurance or to manage the healthcare industry.


28: Supplemental Funding for FEMA and Youth Summer Jobs


This bill (H.R. 4899) would provide an additional $5.7 billion in emergency supplemental funding over and above regular appropriations. Most of the money ($5.1 billion) would be for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Relief Fund and another $600 million would be used to fund youth summer jobs programs.

The House passed H.R. 4899 on March 24, 2010 by a vote of 239-175 (Roll Call 186). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the federal government cannot afford to add to existing spending and because the federal government has no constitutional authority to provide disaster relief or jobs funding.


29: ObamaCare Reconciliation


This bill (H.R. 4872), officially titled the “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010,” was passed to amend the ObamaCare bill at the insistence of disaffected House Democrats. Among other things, it increases subsidies to help uninsured individuals buy health insurance and increases some taxes and fees to help pay for the expanded coverage provided by ObamaCare. This bill also makes the federal government the sole provider of student loans after July 1, which is just one more example of a complete government takeover of a significant sector of our economy.

The House agreed to the motion on March 25, 2010 by a vote of 220-207 (Roll Call 194). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the federal government has no constitutional authority to manage the healthcare industry or the student-loan industry.


30: Science and Technology Programs


This legislation would authorize $48 billion over three years for science and technology research and education programs. The funding includes $24.4 billion for the National Science Foundation and $16.9 billion for the Energy Department’s Office of Science. The bill would also create new programs such as loan guarantees to help small- and medium-sized businesses invest in innovative technologies.

The House failed to pass the bill on May 19, 2010 under a suspension of the rules that requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage (Roll Call 277). The vote tally was 261-148, but 273 were needed to obtain the two-thirds majority. We have assigned pluses to the nays because entrepreneurs and not government should decide which technologies to invest in and to what extent.

[You'll Come Around]

Something good to read after work...thanks for the link! :D

[FrankRep]

bump

[tangent4ronpaul]

Very interesting! - Thanks!

I would love to see a ranking for both House and Senate, based on a summation of scores by state.

-t

[FrankRep]

I would love to see a ranking for both House and Senate, based on a summation of scores by state.

The Senator are listed as well. Congress and Senate.

[FrankRep]

Latest Edition of Congressional Freedom Index (http://florida.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/06/latest-edition-of-congressional-freedom-index/)


Andrew Nappi | Florida Tenth Amendment Center
June 24th, 2010

[itshappening]

I've always liked the JBS criteria/scorecard

They need to encourage wide distribution of them

[klamath]

Wow McCain went from like 45% to 100% trying to keep his job.

[FrankRep]

I've always liked the JBS criteria/scorecard

They need to encourage wide distribution of them

Help us. :)

[Anti Federalist]

25: Patriot Act

This bill (H.R. 3961) would extend by one year three Patriot Act provisions that were set to expire on February 28, 2010. The provisions allow the federal government to exercise wide-ranging surveillance and seizure powers with few limitations. For instance, the records provision allows the government to obtain “any tangible thing” that, it says, has “relevance” to a terrorism investigation. “Relevance” is a much lower standard — if it can even be called a standard at all — than the “probable cause” and a court warrant standard explicitly required by the Fourth Amendment.

The House agreed to extend the provisions on February 25, 2010 by a vote of 315-97 (Roll Call 67). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the provisions violate the right of the people to (in the words of the Fourth Amendment) “be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

It will pass the Senate, Obama will sign it and from the "left" will come the thunderous sound of...


...crickets.

Fucking hypocrites.