All six Democrats that have been assigned to the special joint congressional committee that will recommend means for cutting the nation’s anticipated spending by $1.5 trillion over the next ten years compiled voting records last year that earned them grades of “F” from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) announced today that she has assigned Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn (S.C.), Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (Calif.) and Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (Md.) to serve on the panel. Previously, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had named Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.) to serve on the committee.
None of these Democrats had voting records that scored even as high as 10 percent in the NTU’s annual rating of Congress for last year. Among the six, Rep. Clyburn earned the lowest score of 2 percent and Sen. Baucus earned the highest score of 9 percent. Rep. Van Hollen earned a score of 4 percent and Rep. Becerra and Senators Murray and Kerry earned scores of 6 percent.
In NTU's rating system, all members of Congress who score below 20 percent for their voting record are given a grade of “F” and named a “Big Spender.”
Not all congressional Democrats get “F"s from the NTU. For example, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska earned a score of 52 percent for his 2010 voting record and a grade of “C.” Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana earned a score of 43 percent and a grade of “C-.” House Agriculture Ranking Member Colin Peterson (D.-Minn.) earned a score of 41 percent and a grade of “C-” and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) earned a score of 44 percent and a grade of “C-.”
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