U.S. Congressional Scorecards
109th Congress
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The success of our system of government depends on an educated citizenry. The roll call votes used by the Secular Coalition for America in these scorecards are designed to illustrate the commitment of our elected officials to the secular character of our government and the protection of freedom for all Americans.
The House and Senate Scorecards of the 109th Congress cover votes taken from January 2005 until August 2006. The Secular Coalition for America used ten key votes in both the House and Senate to make the scorecards. Votes include: allowing organizations to discriminate based on religion while using federal funds for secular programs; promoting narrow religious beliefs over secular needs in science, marriage contracts, and the military; the confirmation of judicial appointees who seek to weaken the protections provided by the Establishment Clause; and stripping federal courts of their ability to decide constitutional issues.
The House of Representatives
In the House, only seven members (less than 2%) of Congress earned a perfect score of 100%:
- Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
- Barney Frank (D-MA)
- Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
- Barbara Lee (D-CA)
- Jim McDermott (D-WA)
- Pete Stark (D-CA)
- Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
"With the political strength of the religious right and the irrational demonizing of the nontheist community, I am very proud of these members of Congress," Coalition Director Lori Lipman Brown said. "Our republican form of government was designed to protect the rights of individuals and minorities over the whims of the majority of the moment. It is very sad that so few members of Congress fully live up to the ideals embodied in our Constitution."
A whopping 163 members of the House (38%) failed to cast even a single correct vote. Another 14% cast 1 to 3 correct votes (out of 10 possible votes); 12% of the House voted appropriately about half the time (4 to 6 correct votes); and, 34% cast the majority of their votes (7 to 9 correct votes) in support of our issues.
The Senate
Eight of the 10 votes used in the Senate scorecard are from judicial nominations. The absence of legislative votes (as compared to the House) is because a number of the issues the Coalition tracks have been successfully delayed or killed in the Senate or were passed without recorded votes (e.g., Mt. Soledad was passed by "unanimous consent" procedure; religious discrimination in Head Start has been held up in committee; military proselytizing in the Defense Department bill was taken out prior to a Senate vote; etc.).
In this chamber, 50 Senators had either zero or 1 correct vote, 19 had 2 to 7 correct votes, and 31 had 8 to 10 correct votes (including 18 Senators with perfect scores).
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The Secular Coalition for America does not endorse candidates. The Coalition encourages citizens to make informed decisions.