ACU Releases 2005 Congressional Ratings

ALEXANDRIA, VA— The American Conservative Union, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization, today released its 2005 “Rating of Congress,” the definitive conservative assessment of the federal legislative branch.

ACU has rated every member of the House and Senate since 1971, making the latest guide its 35th edition. The purpose of the “Rating” is to inform the public, in as unbiased a method as possible, exactly where individual senators and congressmen stand on the ideological spectrum.

“In the House, 38 Republicans scored a perfect 100% conservative rating in 2005, including newly elected House Majority Leader John Boehner (OH), Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Pence (IN), and Speaker Dennis Hastert (IL),” said ACU Chairman David A. Keene. “This is down from 48 members scoring a perfect 100% rating in 2004, indicating the greater difficulty of holding the ideological line given the pressures to unify around the previous GOP leadership. Yet, both years represented more conservatism than in 2003, when only two Congressmen received perfect scores.”

Keene continued, “In the Senate, 12 GOP Senators received a perfect 100% conservative rating in 2005, compared to eight in 2004, and none in 2003.”

The “Rating” encompasses three categories: economic and budget matters; social and cultural issues, and defense and foreign policy. Within these categories, ACU selects 25 votes based on the following question: does the vote reflect a clear ideological principle?

Ratings from 1971 through 2005 are available at www.acuratings.org.

Senators and representatives who earned perfect scores of 100% are as follows:

Senate Best of the Best (100%)
George Allen (R-VA) Sam Brownback (R-KS) Conrad Burns (R-MT) Tom Coburn (R-OK) Mike Crapo (R-ID) John Ensign (R-NV)		James Inhofe (R-OK) Johnny Isakson (R-GA) Jon Kyl (R-AZ) Mel Martinez (R-FL) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
House Best of the Best (100%)
W. Todd Akin (R-MO) J. Gresham Barrett (R-SC) Bob Beauprez (R-CO) Rob Bishop (R-UT) Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) John Boehner (R-OH) Jo Bonner (R-AL) John Campbell (R-CA) Chris Cannon (R-UT) Tom Cole (R-OK) Virginia Foxx (R-NC) Trent Franks (R-AZ) Scott Garrett (R-NJ) Phil Gingrey (R-GA) J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) John Hostettler (R-IN)		Bobby Jindal (R-LA) Steve King (R-IA) John Kline (R-MN) Donald Manzullo (R-IL) Patrick McHenry (R-NC) Cathy McMorris (R-WA) John Mica (R-FL) Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) Charlie Norwood (R-GA) Mike Pence (R-IN) Joseph Pitts (R-PA) Pete Sessions (R-TX) John Shadegg (R-AZ) Bill Shuster (R-PA) John Sullivan (R-OK) Thomas Tancredo (R-CO) Mac Thornberry (R-TX) Joe Wilson (R-SC)

Senators and representatives who scored absolute zero are as follows:

Senate Worst of the Worst (0%)
Jon Corzine (D-NJ) Richard Durbin (D-IL) Edward Kennedy (D-MA) Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)		Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Patty Murray (D-WA) Jack Reed (D-RI) Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
House Worst of the Worst (0%)
Thomas Allen (D-ME) Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Xavier Becerra (D-CA) Timothy Bishop (D-NY) Corrine Brown (D-FL) Lois Capps (D-CA) Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) Russ Carnahan (D-MO) Julia Carson (D-IN) Susan Davis (D-CA) Diana DeGette (D-CO) William Delahunt (D-MA) Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Norman Dicks (D-WA) Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) Eliot Engel (D-NY) Lane Evans (D-IL) Barney Frank (D-MA) Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) Rush Holt (D-NJ) Jay Inslee (D-WA) Jesse Jackson (D-IL) Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) Tom Lantos (D-CA) John Larson (D-CT) John Lewis (D-GA) Nita Lowey (D-NY) Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) Edward Markey (D-MA) Doris Matsui (D-CA) Betty McCollum (D-MN)		Jim McDermott (D-WA) James McGovern (D-MA) Martin Meehan (D-MA) Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) Brad Miller (D-NC) George Miller (D-CA) Gwen Moore (D-WI) Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Grace Napolitano (D-CA) Richard Neal (D-MA) John Olver (D-MA) Major Owens (D-NY) Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) Donald Payne (D-NJ) Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Charles Rangel (D-NY) Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) Linda Sanchez (D-CA) Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) Brad Sherman (D-CA) Adam Schiff (D-CA) Hilda Solis (D-CA) Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA) Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) John Tierney (D-MA) Tom Udall (D-NM) Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) Melvin Watt (D-NC) Henry Waxman (D-CA) Anthony Weiner (D-NY) Robert Wexler (D-FL)

See the below tables for a comparison of the best and worst of 2005 with their counterparts from 2004.

2004	100%	0%
Senators	8	10
Representatives	48	47
2005	100%	0%
Senators	12	8
Representatives	38	65

ACU Chairman David Keene, Vice Chairman Donald Devine, and Executive Vice President Bill Lauderback are available for interviews.