Senate_Fiscal_Responsibility

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Recent Trends in Senate Fiscal Voting Patterns

2004 Spending Votes Reveal Clear Party Trends in Fiscal Responsibility

Taxpayers for Common Sense Scorecard shows Democrats and "Blue States" are more fiscally responsible

Sunday (3-12-06) on the ABC program This Week with George Stephanopolous, George Will said that John McCain should be considered the favorite in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. George Will claimed that Republicans cared about two things: supporting the President and spending. McCain has done well on both counts, but Will's assessment of GOP is probably based on the kinds of rock-ribbed, middle-class Republicans that were around when he and I were kids. They're not like that anymore. For Republicans nowadays, with few exceptions, deficits, which are taxes passed on to the next generation, represent a business opportunity.

McCain finished behind Tennessee Senator Bill Frist and Massachusetts governor Mit Romney in a Republican straw poll held in Memphis over the weekend.

Data shows that if John McCain wants to be the next President, he may want to change parties, or form a centrist third party. He's had little company from his fellow Republicans when voting for recent key spending bills. The Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), nonpartisan tax watchdog group has compiled early 2004 Senate voting records on key spending bills and issued a scorecard representing whether or not each senator was with or against the TCS position. The record shows strong differences between Republicans and Democrats, as well as "Red States" compared to "Blue States." Numbers below indicate percentage of votes that were cast in agreement with the TCS.

Average score for Rebublicans: 22

Average score for Democrats: 45

"Red State" Senators, regardless of party": 25

"Blue State" Senators, regardless of party: 46

Table 1. Senators with highest TCS Scores for 2004 108th Session

Senator	Party	State	Red or Blue	Percent
Bob Graham	D	Florida	Red	80
Reed	D	Rhode Island	Blue	70
Corzine	D	New Jersey	Blue	70
Lautenberg	D	New Jersey	Blue	70
Feingold	D	Wisconsin	Blue	70
McCain	R	Arizona	Red	70
Boxer	D	California	Blue	70
Clinton	D	New York	Blue	60
Kohl	D	Wisconsin	Blue	60
Wyden	D	Oregon	Blue	60
Kennedy	D	Massachusetts	Blue	60
Sununu	R	New Hampshire	Blue	60
Gregg	R	New Hampshire	Blue	60
Biden	D	Delaware	Blue	60

Table 2. Senators with lowest TCS scores.

Senator	Party	State	Red or Blue	Percent
Lugar	R	Indiana	Red	0
DeWine	R	Ohio	Red	10
Talent	R	Missouri	Red	10
Enzi	R	Wyoming	Red	10
Ted Stevens	R	Alaska	Red	10
Cochran	R	Mississippi	Red	10
Crapo	R	Idaho	Red	10
Bunning	R	Kentucky	Red	10
Bond	R	Missouri	Red	10
John Warner	R	Virginia	Red	10
Hatch	R	Utah	Red	10
Frist	R	Tennessee	Red	10
Voinovich	R	Ohio	Red	10
Campbell	R	Colorado	Red	10
Dole	R	North Carolina	Red	10
Allen	R	Virginia	Red	10
Kerry	D	Massachusetts	Blue	10
Coleman	R	Minnesota	Blue	10
Roberts	R	Kansas	Red	10
Burns	R	Montana	Red	10
Bennett	R	Utah	Red	10
Smith	R	Oregon	Blue	10
Murkowski	R	Alaska	Red	10

Keywords: Senate Fiscal Responsibility, Republican and Democratic Voting Record, deficit spending, red and blue states