The Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC) released a scorecard of Congressional voting records for the 111th Congress today.
At a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., BCFC President John Palatiello announced the release of the scorecards, which detail the voting records of members of both the House and Senate on 10 key issues for the business community.
The scorecards were guided by the group’s opposition to President Barack Obama’s policies, which it believes have grown government and trampled on America’s economic system of free private enterprise. The concept of the scorecards is to give voters a quantifiable measure of which legislators support specific “pro-free enterprise” measures, and which do not.
“We are seeing an unprecedented level of government expansion into numerous activities that should be left to the private sector,” Palatiello said. “In our free enterprise system, government should be the umpire, not the opposing team.”
The ten key House and Senate votes focused on issues ranging from outsourcing of jobs, government bailouts, and legislation decreasing government reliance on the private sector. BCFC officials said they hope to dispel some misconceptions that they say stunt the growth of free enterprise.
For example, the group cited the issue of outsourcing of jobs to India as being inaccurate and misunderstood. According to the group, while many people believe that all of America’s phone bank jobs are being sent to New Delhi and Mumbai, there are actually more phone bank workers in the United States.
The grades handed out by the group to lawmakers came as no surprise, with most Republicans earning high marks for opposing Obama, and most Democrats receiving low marks. For example, Republican Senators John McCain (Ariz.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.) received scores of 100% support of free enterprise, while Democratic Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) received scores of 0%.
“We hope this scorecard will help continue a thoughtful debate on the role of government in 21st Century America,” Palatiello said.
Business Group Grades Lawmakers Over Support For Free Enterprise
By A.J. Swartwood
The Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC) released a scorecard of Congressional voting records for the 111th Congress today.
At a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., BCFC President John Palatiello announced the release of the scorecards, which detail the voting records of members of both the House and Senate on 10 key issues for the business community.
The scorecards were guided by the group’s opposition to President Barack Obama’s policies, which it believes have grown government and trampled on America’s economic system of free private enterprise. The concept of the scorecards is to give voters a quantifiable measure of which legislators support specific “pro-free enterprise” measures, and which do not.
“We are seeing an unprecedented level of government expansion into numerous activities that should be left to the private sector,” Palatiello said. “In our free enterprise system, government should be the umpire, not the opposing team.”
The ten key House and Senate votes focused on issues ranging from outsourcing of jobs, government bailouts, and legislation decreasing government reliance on the private sector. BCFC officials said they hope to dispel some misconceptions that they say stunt the growth of free enterprise.
For example, the group cited the issue of outsourcing of jobs to India as being inaccurate and misunderstood. According to the group, while many people believe that all of America’s phone bank jobs are being sent to New Delhi and Mumbai, there are actually more phone bank workers in the United States.
The grades handed out by the group to lawmakers came as no surprise, with most Republicans earning high marks for opposing Obama, and most Democrats receiving low marks. For example, Republican Senators John McCain (Ariz.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.) received scores of 100% support of free enterprise, while Democratic Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) received scores of 0%.
“We hope this scorecard will help continue a thoughtful debate on the role of government in 21st Century America,” Palatiello said.