“…impact nationwide.” Indeed!
New York has five House members in charge of powerful committees. Only California and Texas have had five committee chairs simultaneously in the past, but in this Congress, New York has the most. The reason we’ve lumped all these career pols in one Poster is that their records are almost identical as are the records of most of the professional politicians on the Democrat side. Republicans are not as disciplined by their leadership.
“It is great for our nation,” said Rep. Nydia Velázquez, the new chair of the House Small Business Committee. “Not only are we representing New York, but the work that we will be doing will have an impact nationwide. It’s so gratifying to see that New York is at the table.”
At the table, indeed –but doing what? We’ll see by examining their voting records for it is “by their votes ye shall know them.” (A little paraphrasing of St. Matthew 7:16)
In the House of Representatives, Democrats choose Committee chairs by seniority with no term limits. Republicans pick theirs on merit as well as tenure and, importantly, have
We’ve already done Posters on Rep. Jerry Nadler at the Judiciary Committee and Eliot Engle at the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Rounding out the five New York chairs of House committees are Nita Lowey at Appropriations and Rep. Carolyn Maloney at the Joint Economic Committee.
Rep. Nita Lowey (NY-17) is in her 16th term and is retiring after 32 years in Congress.California Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13), Marcy Kaptur (OH-1) and Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) are in line to replace her because under House Democrat caucus rules they have the most seniority on the Appropriations Committee.
All three potential successors have almost identical voting records as they faithfully follow the party line like most of the committee chairs and ranking members. Using the conservative Heritage Action Scorecard to compare them: all three are 0% for the current session; lifetime scores are Lee 12%, DeLauro 10% and Kaptur 8%. Lowey is 0% current session and 9% lifetime
Their liberal/progressive scores are best illustrated by Americans for Democratic Action that rates on the percentage that the member votes in agreement with the very liberal/progressive ADA. We’re using Heritage Action and ADA ratings to show contrast between liberal and conservative voting records of our subjects of this Poster,We’ll show the non-partisan group ratings of each below. All are linked to their sites so you can access more detailed information on the votes.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-12) is in her 14th term in the House. She was recently elected to chair the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee following the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). Heritage Action 0% current session and 10% lifetime; ADA score is 90%
Rep. Nydia Margarita Velasquez (NY-7) is in her 14th term. Her Heritage Action Score is 0% current session and 11% lifetime. ADA score is 95%.
The National Taxpayers UnionThe Taxpayer Score measures the strength of support for reducing spending and opposing higher taxes. In general, a higher score is better because it means a member of Congress voted to spend less money. NTU rates all five as “POOR” with the highest score a lowly 30.
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste works to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government through research and public education. CCAGW gives each one a D score with the title, “Hostile to Taxpayers.”
Club for Growth rates on votes that affect economic growth such as lower taxes, balanced budgets, free trade, term limits, school choice and other factors affecting freedom and prosperity. On a rating of 1 -100 each one received a rating of 7 –only one of the 27 member New York delegation was lower: Jerry Nadler 6.
These are our elected representatives who determine the critical issues that affect us all –not only us present taxpayers but for our children and their children. Of course, that reference is to the national debt which is truly astronomical! And growing by the day!
The Current Outstanding Public Debt
of the United States as of today February 17, 2020 is
$23,305,297,151,133.97 —Every man,
woman and child in the United States currently owes $76,706 for their share of the U.S. public debt. And it is the
powerful committee chairs who are largely responsible –or irresponsible, for
indebting our progeny.
Now you see why we call them “the worst of a bad lot.” Why don’t we just vote them out? Because they are entrenched career pols who have played the game, took good care to keep their establishment leadership and their lobbyists happy. Their lobbyists don’t want to lose their honest pols –they define “honest” as “once bought, stays bought.” Potential challengers don’t have the name recognition and the established sources of money. To career pols, reelection is Job #1. Reelection rate for incumbents is well over 90% which discourages potential challengers from making the effort.
What to do? Limit the terms of Congress! It works for the office of the president, governors, state legislatures, county commissioners, mayors, etc. It will work for Congress –with your help. See www.termlimits.com to see the plan.
