Report Grades Lawmakers on Voting Records Based on 'Inequality' - East Idaho News
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Report Grades Lawmakers on Voting Records Based on ‘Inequality’

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GETTY P 100612 CapitolBuildingNight?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1349549213031Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Who in Congress supports the “1 percent” or “99 percent”?

The liberal think tank Institute for Policy Studies looked at 40 pieces of legislation in the past two years that it believes supported either “greater inequality” or “reduced inequality” and graded the lawmakers who voted on them based on how “friendly” to the “1 percent” they were.

Dismayed that the U.S. has become “the most unequal major developed nation,” the group argues that Congress, “more than any other institution in American life,” is responsible “for the rules that determine how our economy operates.”

Their “Congressional Report Card for the 99 percent” identifies 17 members of the Senate from both sides of the aisle, listed on the group’s website, who they say are most friendly to the one percent of Americans who have the most assets and income.

To grade the lawmakers, the Institute for Policy Studies docked a point if a lawmaker voted in favor of legislation they say widened inequality and awarded a point if a lawmaker voted on legislation that reduced it. Bill sponsors were also docked a point for the former while co-sponsors were docked 0.5 points; the sponsors of bills that were said to reduce equality were awarded points. Lawmakers who missed more than one recorded vote were given an “incomplete.”

The following eight Senators were called the “Most 99 Percent Friendly Members of Congress”:

Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio

Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

Olympia Snow, R-Maine

Susan Collins, R-Maine

Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska

The following 17 Senators were called the “Most One Percent Friendly Members of Congress”:

Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.

Kay Hagan, D-N.C.

Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

Jon Tester, D-Mont.

Jim Webb, D-Va.

Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

John Boozman, R-Ark.

Richard Burr, R-N.C.

Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.

Michael Enzi, R-Wyo.

Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Dean Heller, R-Nev.

Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

Mike Johanns, R-Neb.

John McCain, R-Ariz.

John Thune, R-S.D.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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