How did your member of Congress score in 2017?

By John Risch, National Legislative Director
Last year, SMART Transportation Division tracked 10 votes and two bills in the U.S. House of Representatives that directly impacted our members, families and retirees. These votes ranged from federal funding for Amtrak and Essential Air Service (EAS), to protecting the Davis-Bacon Act, to the recently passed tax bill. Over the years, we distilled the ‘yeas’ and ‘nays’ into a numeric score rewarding members of Congress who co-sponsored H.R. 233, the Safe Freight Act, and penalizing the scores of those who co-sponsored National Right to Work Act.
When you put all the votes together, combined with co-sponsorship of bills that directly impact members, the Legislative Action Center derives a score using a 1-100 scale to illustrate where members of Congress stand with SMART TD members. The cumulative score for members of Congress goes back as early as 2011. You can check your Representatives score by clicking on the link below, then clicking on your state and representative. The score is on the picture.
Click here to find out how your Member of Congress scored with SMART TD.
Below is the breakdown of scores when it comes to SMART TD issues of concern:

• 31 Members of Congress with a perfect 100
• 180 Members of Congress with a score between 90 and 100 (178 Ds and 2 Rs)
• 16 Republicans with a score of 60 and higher. The highest is a 99.
• The lowest Democrat score is 78
• 115 Members of Congress with a score of 10 or below
• 35 Members of Congress with a score of zero.
• The overall average for all of Congress is a score of 54
• H.R. 233, The Safe Freight Act has 74 co-sponsors (61 Ds and 13 Rs)
• H.R. 785, National Right to Work Act has 107 co-sponsors (all Rs)

The National Legislative Office will continue to engage all members of Congress, regardless of party or past votes, to tell our story on why rail, transportation, and air workers are key toward moving America’s economic engines forward. As we start off 2018 with renewed optimism, I hope you’ll join us in telling that story to your elected officials.