ALEXANDRIA, VA Ð As the U.S. Congress begins the 2nd Session of the 107th Congress, the American Conservative Union [January 28, 2002] released its annual Rating of Congress for the recently completed 2001 session.

ACU Chairman David A. Keene, after releasing the ratings, issued the following based on an analysis by ACU Vice-Chairman Dr. Donald Devine:

"The 1st Session of the 107th Congress has---despite claims from some quarters to the contrary---been one of the most partisan sessions of Congress in recent memory. The almost equal division of power in the respective chambers of Congress forced both political parties to unite to advance any agenda at all.

"Since a majority of Republicans are conservative and a majority of Democrats are liberal, both political parties were forced to unite around their core ideological ideas. Party moderates did force both parties to the center, with the general move somewhat to the right, but the defining votes of the session were still more-or-less conservative against liberal, and Republican against Democrat.

"The House produced 169 members with an ACU rating of over 80 percent--our definition of a conservative---the largest number in recent years. By comparison, 156 members of the House of Representatives scored ratings of 80% or higher in 2000. A record 38 House members---including Majority Whip Tom DeLay---scored a perfect 100% rating (compared to 28 last year). An additional 53 scored a near-perfect 96, including Majority Leader Dick Armey. Only two non-Republicans scored conservative, Independent Virgil Goode of Virginia and Democrat Ralph Hall of Texas---both with 96% scores. These conservatives were almost perfectly balanced at the other end of the spectrum. Fifty members scored a zero rating as perfect liberals and 41 earned a 4 rating, all Democrats. In total, 153 members scored 20 percent or less as liberals and only one was a Republican. Liberal GOPer Connie Morella (MD) scored a meager 12, and Republicans Jim Leach (IA) had a 25%, Amo Houghton (NY) rated a 30, and Sherwood Boehlert (NY), Nancy Johnson (CT) and Chris Shays (CT) earned scores of 32 each. Only three other Democrats, Ken Lucas (KY), Ronnie Shows (MS) and Jim Traficant (OH), scored as high as 76% conservative.

More Keene: "The political parties were even more ideologically split in the Senate. Fourty-two Senators scored 80% conservative or above, every one was a Republican. Of the 32 Senators who scored 20% or below, all were Democrats. The Republicans were more ideologically cohesive, with 12 receiving perfect 100% conservative ratings and 13 receiving a rating of 96%. Four Democratic Senators received a perfect 100% liberal rating and five scored a very liberal 4, all Democrats. The overall tilt of the upper house was to the center-right, with three Democrats scoring more highly conservative than any in recent years. The highest conservative-scoring Democrats were Zell Miller (GA) with 60%, Ben Nelson (NE) with 56% and John Breaux of Louisiana with 48%. Lincoln Chafee (RI) was the lowest scoring Republican with a 44% score. For the first time, ideological and party eccentric John McCain did not qualify for the minimum conservative rating, even though he represents a very conservative state, earning a modest 68% score," concluded Keene.

The ACU Rating of Congress, widely considered to be the definitive conservative evaluation of the legislative branch, has been compiled annually since 1971. The ratings assign each Member of the House and Senate a numerical score on a 0-to-100 scale according to their support for the conservative position on actual votes. The ACU scorecard integrates votes on economic and budget matters, social and cultural issues, defense and foreign policy concerns, and institutional reform issues to create a balanced picture of an individual Member of Congress' ideological predisposition.

ACU's annual ratings are available on the Internet at www.conservative.org in an interactive format, which lets users "take the ratings quiz" on the same issues used to rate Members of Congress.

Reply to this article in the Rant Forum!