ACU Releases 2007 Ratings of Congress

Alexandria, VA—The American Conservative Union (ACU) the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization, has released its 2007 “Rating of Congress.”  ACU has rated every member of the House and Senate since 1971 and the ratings are widely regarded as the definitive conservative assessment of the federal legislative branch.

ACU Chairman David A. Keene said it is not surprising that the 2006 election has resulted in Congress taking a sharp leftward turn.

“Elections have consequences and the election of 2006 was no exception,” Keene said.  “The overall average score of the House of Representatives fell from 53.1 percent conservative in 2006 to 42.91 percent in 2007 while in the Senate the average score in 2007 was 42.67 percent conservative compared to 49.5 percent in 2006.”

Keene noted that, under the Democrats, the House became more polarized with 62 members, all Republicans, earning a perfect 100 conservative rating up from only 8 in 2006, while those earning a perfect liberal score of “0” numbered a record 138.

Voting patterns in the Senate were more stable but still showed a move to the left.  The number of Senators scoring a liberal rating of 20 percent or less rose from 40 in 2006 to 48 in 2007.  Five GOP senators scored a perfect 100 percent conservative rating, the same as 2006, although the number of Senators scoring a perfect rating of “0” rose from 7 in 2006 to 21 in 2007.

As the umbrella grassroots lobbying group of the conservative movement, ACU tracks a wide range of issues before the Congress in three general categories:  economic and budget matters, social and cultural issues and issues related to national defense and foreign policy.  The objective is to provide a balanced, comprehensive picture of each member of congress’s ideological predisposition based upon recorded votes.

The 2007 ACU “Rating of Congress is available online at www.acuratings.org or in hardcopy booklet form on request.

For commentary by ACU's Vice Chairman Dr. Donald Devine - click here.

U.S. House of Representatives Standouts

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