Samuel Case, FISM News
The Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) released its congressional scorecard for 2022 on Monday.
The scorecard is produced as a way to grade legislators on how well they hold to “the political philosophy that sovereignty resides in the person.” The committee looked at the votes of the members of Congress on over 20,000 votes while highlighting several votes that focused on economic, societal, and defense issues.
“I wish I could say that Congress helped tackle the problems our country faced that I described in 2021 on these pages. However, sad to say, they instead have poured oil on the fires of inflation, massive deficits, increasing crime numbers, and illegal migration by voting for the Biden left-wing agenda,” CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp said on the opening page.
Schlapp lamented that Democrats were sometimes added by “RINO/establishment Republicans,” and specifically noted how Republican leadership allowed the passage of the $1.7 billion omnibus spending bill at the end of 2022. He did however note that some lawmakers “stood against the tide to uphold conservative principles.”
In the Senate, Republicans Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), Mike Braun (Ind.), and Rand Paul (Ky.) earned a 100%. Eighteen total Republican senators earned CPAC’s “Award for Conservative Excellence” given to lawmakers who scored 90% or higher on the scoresheet. The lowest-scoring Senate Republican was Susan Collins (Maine) with 38%. The Republican average on the scoring metric was 78% in the upper chamber.
The Democrat average came in at a measly 2% with Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va) scoring the highest at 16%. The overall average in the Senate was 40%.
In the House, 14 lawmakers earned perfect scores: Michael Cloud (Texas), Bob Good (Va.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Kevin Hern (Okla.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Debbie Lesko (Ariz.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Mary Miller (Ill.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Scott Perry (Pa.), Matthew Rosendale (Mont.), Chip Roy (Texas), and Gregory Steube (Fla.). Fifty-three House members in total earned the “Award for Conservative Excellence.”
Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) was the lowest-scoring House Republican with a score of 24%. The overall Republican score in the lower chamber came in at 80%.
Just like the Senate, the Democrat average in the House was 2%. The highest-scoring Democratic representative was Jared Golden (Maine) with 12%. The overall score in the House was 40%.