| The Drum Major Institute just released a scorecard for Congress: "Congress at the Midterm: Their 2005 Middle-Class Record".
DMI is a think tank doing really interesting work in progessive policy, with a focus on the types of policies and issues that actually affect the middle class (as opposed to the wedge issues that the Republicans say affect the middle class). They've rated every Senator and House Member by their votes on a number of bills. Explanations of those bills and their impact on the middle class are located here.
California's Senators both did fairly well with respect to the middle class. Senator Boxer has a 100% rating, while Senator Feinstein has a 75% rating, having voted for CAFTA (favoring outsourcing and corporate power) and for the 2005 Energy Policy Act (tax subsidies for energy companies; allowing energy companies to dump poison into the water table). [List of all Senators' ratings]
California's House Members are a mixed bag (there's a table on the flip). The majority of the Democratic Representatives get at least a passing grade, with the majority at 100% and only three below 75% (Jane Harman, Dennis Cardoza, and Jim Costa). The California House Republicans, show they care about the middle class far less than they love lining their own pockets, with the majority at 0%, and none above 13%. [List of all Representatives' ratings]
It's a great report, developed by an organization doing really interesting work. Click through, and see how your representatives are doing helping you on issues that actually matter. And take a look at the rest of the DMI website -- there's a lot of good stuff.
P.S. In a really clever wired move, DMI is running a Google Adwords campaign for the next month, so that when you type your Rep's name into Google, their rating comes up in the right-hand column. Here, for example, is my Representative. |
