Source: PRESS RELEASE, 10/18/11

On Monday, October 3, 2011, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) released its 2010 Congressional Ratings, highlighting the voting records of all 535 members of Congress. The report named Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) a Taxpayer Hero for the 16th time in his Congressional career due to his 91 percent rating in 2010. CCAGW‟s 2010 Congressional Ratings recognized members of Congress who consistently voted in the fiscal interest of taxpayers. This year is the twenty-second year that CCAGW has published its ratings.

CCAGW‟s 2010 Congressional Ratings scored 46 votes in the House and 62 votes in the Senate. By comparison, in 2009, CCAGW rated 120 votes in the House and 74 votes in the Senate. The average rating for the entire House was 40 percent; a 9 percentage point increase from 2009, while the Senate averaged 42 percent, a 3 percentage point increase from 2009. Republican members in both chambers averaged a rating of 90 percent, up 9 percentage points from their 81 percent score in 2009, while Senate Democrats averaged a score of 8 percent, down 2 percentage points from 2009.

“Since members achieved only four victories for taxpayers in the House and three in the Senate amidst a host of failed opportunities to cut spending and reduce the deficit, CCAGW has dubbed 2010 the „Year of Living Expensively,‟” said CCAGW President Tom Schatz. “On behalf of taxpayers, we thank and applaud Taxpayer Heroes like Rep. Coble for their votes to cut wasteful spending, reduce taxes, and make government more accountable to taxpayers. Unfortunately, far too many members demonstrated little regard for the consequences of failing to reduce the record $1.3 trillion deficit and $14.7 trillion debt, and constituents should admonish them for their poor ratings.”

The 2010 Congressional Ratings cover the voting year 2010, the second session of the 111th Congress. CCAGW rates members on a 0 to 100 percent scale. Members are placed in the following categories: 0-19 percent Hostile; 20-39 percent Unfriendly; 40-59 percent Lukewarm; 60-79 percent Friendly; 80-99 percent Taxpayer Hero; 100 percent Taxpayer Super Hero. CCAGW‟s website, www.ccagwratings.org, features the complete 2010 Congressional Ratings, including vote descriptions, scorecards for the House and Senate, and averages by chamber, party, and state delegation.

With a ballooning national debt, high unemployment rate, and stagnant economy, lawmakers utterly failed to do the right thing…101 times. That means in the second half of the 111th Congress, members collectively only managed to vote the right way 6 percent of the time.

“CCAGW congratulates Rep. Coble for standing by taxpayers and championing fiscal responsibility throughout the most spendthrift Congress in history. We encourage the constituents of the zeros and other non-heroes to demand better results in 2011 and beyond,” concluded Schatz.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation‟s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.