Four of the state's 15-member
Congressional delegation voted for the public interest more than 80% of the
time between January 22, 2003 and March 16, 2005, according to the annual Congressional
Scorecard for U.S. Senators and Representatives on major public interest issues
released today by NCPIRG.
NCPIRG is releasing its
annual scorecard as part of its national campaign to work with Congress to stop
the dirty, dangerous energy bill and to promote clean, safe energy policy.
"At the behest of
special interests, Congress has voted to allow clear-cutting in our national
forests and weaken consumer protections, and has failed to cut global warming
pollution, failed to increase automobile fuel economy, and failed to make polluters
pay for toxic waste cleanups" said NCPIRG Director Elizabeth Ouzts. "These
scorecards are an important tool to educate the public about the voting records
of their elected officials and to help citizens hold those officials accountable."
In addition to tracking
such diverse public interest votes as protecting the Clean Air Act; protecting
the Arctic Refuge from drilling; preventing unfair credit card practices; and
increasing access to affordable prescription drugs, the scorecards also list
information about campaign contributions, biographical data, past NCPIRG scores,
and telephone numbers for citizens to contact their elected officials.
Public Interest Scores for
the North Carolina delegation were:
Senators:
Burr 5% (from House voting record)
Dole 14%
Representatives:
1- Butterfield NA
2- Etheridge 81%
3- Jones 14%
4- Price 90%
5- Foxx NA
6- Coble 10%
7- McIntyre 57%
8- Hayes 0%
9- Myrick 0%
10- McHenry NA
11- Taylor 10%
12- Watt 100%
13- Miller 86%
"We applaud Reps Etheridge, Price, Watt, and Miller for being public interest
heroes. They received scores over 80 percent for consistently voting in the
public interest," said Ouzts. "We are particularly disappointed in
Sen. Burr and Reps. Hayes and Myrick, who consistently voted to put special
interests before public health and safety and scored 10 percent or below."
Nationally, 156 members
of the House or Senate scored 80% and above, of whom 33 scored 100%. One hundred
ninety four (194) members of either chamber had scores at 10% or below, with
97 members scoring 0%.
"With a few bright
spots like the House's rejection of subsidized roadbuilding and logging in the
Tongass National Forest, the 109th Congress is continuing the anti-public interest
history of recent years," continued Ouzts. "The Senate voted to let
industries off the hook from paying for their toxic waste clean-up; the House
rejected efforts to strengthen consumer protections from electric company price
gouging; and the House and Senate denied decreasing our dependence on foreign
oil by increasing the fuel economy of vehicles."
"We urge members of
North Carolina congressional delegation to strengthen our environmental laws
- clean up polluting power plants, preserve our last wild forests, and defend
Superfund and America's other environmental protections," concluded Ouzts.
