Alexandria, VA – The American Conservative Union Foundation (ACUF) has just released its 48th Edition of its annual Ratings of Congress. The guide ranks members of Congress based upon their commitment to conservative principles as demonstrated by their voting-records in the 2018 session of Congress. These Ratings of Congress —and our Ratings of all 50 state legislatures — are initiatives of ACUF’s Center for Legislative Accountability. In all, every year we rate about 8,000 elected officials across 101 legislative chambers across the country. “The Trump administration continued its push for conservative policies and nominees in 2018,” said ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp. “In response, the Senate took action to confirm a number of judges and achieved a landmark political victory to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, but Congress (and especially the House which operates under a simple 'majority rules' system) mostly squandered an historic opportunity to implement meaningful conservative-policy solutions, including funding a wall on our southern border, repealing and replacing Obamacare, and passing signature work-requirements in conjunction with nutrition or welfare benefits. One bright spot was when conservatives of both chambers led the fight to pass the First Step Act. We struggled to find bills to score because of Congress’ big whiff, but in the end we were able to find a sufficient number of votes to reflect a members’ adherence to conservative principles.” This year three members of the Iowa congressional delegation received awards for receiving scores of 80 percent or higher from the ACUF:
- Rep Rod Blum (87%)
- Sen Joni Ernst (86%)
- Sen Charles "Chuck" Grassley (82%)
Iowa’s other two members received the following scores: Rep Steve King (76%), Rep David Young (72%), and Rep Dave Loebsack (8%). Rep Loebsack, Iowa’s only Democratic member, qualified for ACUF’s “Coalition of the Radical Left” for receiving a score below 10 percent. This year, ACU Foundation double-weighted the vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and another to re-impose government control of the internet. The percentage of Republicans earning awards for their conservative voting-records fell compared to the 2017 session (from 66 percent to 55 percent). The average scores of Democrats was 10 percent in the Senate and 8 percent in the House. This session’s scorecard is made up of 25 bills in the US House of Representatives and 20 bills in the US Senate. The bills selected cover a wide range of issues including fiscal and economic, social and cultural, and national security, and are designed to reflect how lawmakers view the role of government in an individual’s life. ACUF hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the largest gathering of conservatives in the world. They have for more than fifty years harnessed the collective strength of conservative organizations fighting for Americans who are concerned with liberty, personal responsibility, traditional values, and strong national defense. CLICK HERE to view ACUF’s Ratings of Congress online. CLICK HERE to view Ratings of Iowa. For questions or media inquiries regarding ACUF Ratings, email Luke Schneider, Public Affairs and Policy Analyst for the American Conservative Union Foundation, at lschneider@conservative.org.
