A new Club for Growth report based on its 2011 congressional voting scorecard shows that freshmen House Republicans received an average score of 71 percent — only 2-percentage points higher than the average for House GOP veterans.
A majority of so-called tea party freshmen voted against the conservative Republican Study Committee budget, says the report, which was released Tuesday. And only 14 of 87 House Republican freshmen signed a pledge promising not to raise the debt ceiling until the GOP’s proposed “cut, cap and balance” deficit reduction passed.
Rep. Allen West of Florida, a high-profile and outspoken face of the GOP freshman class, received an “anemic” score of 64 percent for voting to raise the debt ceiling and by repeatedly voting against spending cuts, Club for Growth said.
The two freshmen elected by their peers to be liaisons to the House GOP leadership team received vastly divergent scores: Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina with 92 percent and Rep. Kristi Noem of South Dakota with 60 percent.
“The liberal media likes to pretend that these Republicans have fought for fiscally conservative policies, but the facts don’t support their thesis,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “Just because the Republicans have a majority does not mean that more pro-growth policies have been passed.”
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