Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, the Club for Growth Foundation released its 2024 Congressional Economic Scorecard, offering every American an insight into how their Member of Congress and U.S. Senators approach free market economic policy. NOTUS’ Reese Gorman covered the launch in an exclusive report.
The Foundation conducted a detailed examination of each lawmaker’s record on votes related to pro-growth policies and computed an Economic Growth Score on a scale of 0 to 100. A score of 100 indicates the highest support for pro-growth policies. Each vote or action in the rating is assigned a certain number of points depending on its relative importance. The Foundation’s study examined all 856 floor votes in the House (517) and Senate (339) and, in the end, included 14 House votes and 13 Senate votes.
Absences are not counted, though the Foundation reserves the right to do so if, in its judgment, a Member’s position was otherwise discernible. Members absent for a sufficient number of votes were given an “N.A.” Years where members receive an “N.A.” do not impact their lifetime scores in the Foundation’s analysis. Scores cannot be directly compared between the two chambers, as different votes were taken in each body.
The Foundation’s Congressional Economic Scorecard has been produced and distributed since 2005.
Click here to view the complete 2024 Congressional Economic Scorecard from the Club for Growth Foundation.
Click here to read the full coverage from Reese Gorman and NOTUS.
EXCERPTS:
Club for Growth’s (Foundation) Annual Scorecard Shows How Congress Is Getting More Conservative
In the House, 31 Republicans received perfect scores from the Club for Growth (Foundation), with 51 members also scoring at or above 90%. Meanwhile, six senators scored 100%, and another nine senators were at or above 90%.
Thirty-one House Republicans and six senators received perfect “100%” scores in the Club for Growth (Foundation)’s annual scorecard, according to data shared with NOTUS in advance of the conservative group’s 2024 rankings that will be published on Tuesday.
In the House, the majority of those perfect score recipients are members of the House Freedom Caucus, such as the group’s chair, Rep. Andy Harris, and Reps. Eric Burlison, Josh Brecheen and Scott Perry.
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In the Senate, there were few surprises. Sens. Tommy Tuberville, Rand Paul, Ted Budd, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson and then-Sen. JD Vance all scored 100% on the Club’s “key votes.”
While those 100% scores were rarified air, the number of members who scored at least 90% on the Club’s key votes points to how conservative both chambers were in 2024. In the House, 51 Republicans received the “Defender of Economic Freedom” award, which is handed to members with a score of 90% or higher for the year and a lifetime score of 90% or higher.
Nine senators also earned the distinction.
“Club for Growth is excited to have 51 Members of the House and 9 members of the Senate receive the Defender of Economic Freedom award, most of whom were endorsed by Club for Growth PAC and helped elected through Club for Growth Action,” former Rep. David McIntosh, the Club for Growth’s president, told NOTUS in a statement.
The Club for Growth scored a number of key votes that the group said relate to promoting economic growth. Key votes included bills that would reduce income tax rates, repeal the estate tax and expand free trade…
But perhaps the more impactful aspect of the scorecard is which Republicans scored poorly, particularly among Republicans already facing a primary challenge.
Among that group, Sen. John Cornyn notably received a 62% score, as he fends off a serious primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. (Rep. Wesley Hunt, who is said to also be considering a bid for the Texas Senate seat, also received a perfect 100% score in the House.)
Other top targets for conservatives, including Sens. Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy, both received scores of 65% and 62%, respectively.
The 2024 scorecard, which is maintained by the nonprofit arm of the conservative political group, also provides some other interesting takeaways. On the Democratic side, 124 members — 93 in the House and 31 in the Senate — had a 0% on the Club’s scorecard, while the highest scoring House Democrat was Rep. Henry Cuellar (36%).
In the Senate, the four highest-scoring Democrats in 2024 are now all gone: Sens. Joe Manchin (55%), Kyrsten Sinema (42%), Sherrod Brown (20%) and Jon Tester (18%).
Meanwhile, the lowest-scoring Republicans were Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (42%), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (52%) and Sen. Susan Collins (52%).