https://www.kpcnews.com/news/state/article_c17b03e6-5825-5bc7-9e88-a290e7e3913d.html
(The Center Square) – The Indiana congressional delegation has earned a “C” rating from watchdog group National Taxpayers Union.
Ratings are based on support for reducing what the group calls wasteful government spending, opposing higher taxes and the group’s idea of burdensome regulations.
The ratings, A-F, were given for individual members of congress and to state delegations as a whole, covering the first session of the 117th Congress. Ratings are based on an evaluation of the taxpayer impact of every vote, according to NTU, not just votes involving tax increases.
Indiana’s aggregate congressional delegation score was C, which indicates a satisfactory rating from NTU. Indiana senators scored a collective B, earning a good rating.
Republican Sen. Mike Braun ranked third among all senators with, earning the letter grade A and the moniker “taxpayer’s friend” from NTU. Fellow Republican Todd Young rated a satisfactory C+.
Among Hoosier members of Congress, Republicans rated best with scores tightly clustered around their average of B-. Both of Indiana’s Democratic members of congress were rated F by NTU.
Individual ratings were, Frank Mrvan, D-1st, F; Jackie Walorski, R-2nd, C+, Jim Banks, R-3rd, B; Jim Baird, R-4th C+; Victoria Spartz, R-5th, B-; Greg Pence, R-6th, B-; André Carson, D-7th, F; Larry Bucshon, R-8th, C+; Trey Hollingsworth, R-9th, C+.
“A high score does not mean that the member of Congress was opposed to all spending or all programs,” according to the NTU website. “High-scoring members have indicated that they would vote for many programs if the amount of spending were lower or if the spending were offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget.”
A zero score, which has never been achieved, would mean the lawmaker voted in favor of every spending increase and against all tax reform.
NTU states it is a non-partisan group with no agenda other than looking out for taxpayer concerns but has been criticized for opposing increases in tobacco taxes and for accepting funding from Philip Morris, one of the six largest tobacco companies in the world.
