Every year Family Research Council (FRC) Action issues a report card
detailing how our elected officials in Congress vote on pro-family
issues. Defense/foreign-policy conservatives have had ratings for quite
some time, as have economic conservatives. Only recently has there been
a ratings-system for family issues. Its most recent scorecard details
the first session of the 110th Congress
FRC Action rated seven votes in the Senate, including those on embryonic
stem-cell research, hate crimes, preventing funding for international
groups which support coercive abortion and sterilization. Only twenty
seven Republicans in the Senate scored 100% on pro-family issues. Only
a few states, such as Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South
Carolina and Wyoming, have two Senators with perfect scores.
Having the appellation "Republican" attached to a Senator's name is
rarely an indication of how the Senator will vote. In Arizona, for
example, Senator Jon Kyl scored 100%. But his colleague, Senator John
S. McCain, III received a disappointing 42% rating. Some Republican
Senators did not score as well as Democrats. Senators Susan Collins and
Olympia B. Snowe, both Republicans from Maine, scored 28%. Meanwhile,
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) scored highest among the Democrats, at 85%.
After that, Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND), Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Robert
P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) received a 42% rating. Most Democrats had a 0%
rating.
In the House of Representatives, FRC Action rated sixteen votes,
including bills on funding for abortions, homosexual marriage, embryonic
stem-cell research, human cloning, needle exchange programs, hate crimes
and the Fairness Doctrine. There were 119 Representatives with 100%
votes. All three Republicans from Nebraska, its entire delegation,
scored perfectly. Representative Brad Ellsworth of Indiana had the
highest Democratic score, at 81%. As a side note, the new Governor of
Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, a Republican, received a score of 85%. He was
unable to vote on two issues because he was campaigning for Governor.
Years ago when we established ratings of all House votes for the
Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, I actually had several
Members of Congress who wanted to argue with me about their voting
record. They wanted a higher rating. One of the calls I received was
from Edward I. Koch, then a Democratic Representative from New York and
later Mayor of New York City. I had labeled him the most liberal
Congressman in the House in 1975. He didn't like that and wanted to
argue for a higher score.