(Washington, March 13) - - The new AFL-CIO congressional scorecard shows that support for working families is becoming an even more mainstream position in Washington, with the reportedly moderate freshman class voting for working family issues 94 percent of the time. The newly updated scorecard -- which allows users to track the records of members of Congress online as far back as 1996 -- is available online at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/votes/index.cfm.
“This analysis bears out what we have always known - that issues like a real minimum wage and affordable prescription drugs are what matters to Americans,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. “Working people know we have been on the wrong track for the last eight years and in the last election, they chose people they hoped would set things right.”
The scorecard ranks elected officials based on a tally of 19 specific votes in the U.S. Senate and 24 in the House of Representatives in 2007. Votes included support for workers’ freedom to form unions, allowing the government to negotiate with drug companies to bring down the price of prescriptions for Medicare recipients and fully funding a program to help low-income children get health care.
“W” indicates a “wrong” vote that would hurt working families; “R” indicates a “right” vote.
A quick look shows that Senator John McCain had a zero score for voting for working family issues, while both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama each had a one hundred percent record in 2007.
The Voting Record also shows each member’s lifetime record of support for working families, and lets users search online for either individual members of Congress or their congressional delegation’s votes.
