Congress Gets Failing Score On Environment

In releasing the 2000 National Environmental Scorecard today, the League of Conservation Voters criticized a majority in Congress for voting to jeopardize clean water and air protections, and for using anti-environment riders on appropriations bills to disguise their efforts to weaken environmental and public health laws. LCV is encouraging citizens across the country to hold their members of Congress accountable for the environmental votes they cast in 1999 and 2000.The environmental ratings for the 106th Congress show that for the sixth consecutive year Congressional environmental scores averaged below 50 percent nationally­ - 43 percent in the Senate and 47 percent in the House. For their votes in 1999 and 2000, 34 senators and 18 representatives scored a zero percent, compared with only eight representatives and seven senators earning 100 percent scores. A 100 percent score indicates the strongest environmental commitment, while a zero percent shows a consistent voting pattern against conservation and public health protections.The votes tabulated in the 2000 National Environmental Scorecard are based on the consensus recommendation of experts from 25 nonpartisan environmental, conservation and sportsmen’s groups. The 2000 Scorecard includes seven votes taken this year in the Senate and 14 votes taken in the House. Based on the tallies, the LCV Scorecard assigns a percentage score to every representative and senator.

Thanks to Chris Steins