Surprisingly, Congressman Fred Upton's conservative rating from the American Conservative Union plummeted to 64% in 2011. Here are the bills on which Upton voted the wrong way, according to ACU. Time to nominate Jack!
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1. Legal Services Corporation. HR 1 (Roll Call 54)
The House defeated an amendment to the 2011 appropriations bill that would have struck all funding for the Legal Services Corporation from the budget bill. ACU has always opposed this wasteful program which has been used primarily to expand the welfare state and was found by a GAO study to be rife with waste, fraud and abuse and supported this amendment. The amendment failed February 16, 2011 by a vote of 171-259.
7. Davis-Bacon Wage Rate Requirements. HR 1 (Roll Call 144)
The House defeated an amendment to the 2011 appropriations bill barring the use of funds to enforce the Davis-Bacon Act. This requires federal projects to pay workers the “prevailing” wage, usually union rage rates which are often well above the local market rate. This adds billions of dollars in cost to federal programs and adds to the deficit. ACU opposes this federal mandate and supports this amendment. The amendment failed on February 19, 2011 by a vote of 189-233.
11. Conservative Budget. H Con Res 34 (Roll Call 275)
The House defeated a conservative alternative to the budget that would freeze total discretionary spending at 2008 levels beginning in 2013 and balanced the budget within ten years. The bill cut mandatory spending by $1.9 trillion over 10 years. The bill assumed the repeal of the Obama health care bill and a gradual increase in the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare. ACU supports this alternative as a reasonable attempt to eliminate our annual deficits. The amendment failed on April 15, 2011 by a vote of 119-136. 172 Democrats voted “Present” even though they opposed the bill and their votes are rated in opposition.
16. Foreign Agricultural Service. HR 2112 (Roll Call 432)
The House rejected an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriations Bill to eliminate the Foreign Agricultural Service. This agency uses taxpayer money to fund 98 offices around the world to help find export opportunities for large corporations. ACU opposes this wasteful spending when our national debt stands at $15 trillion and supported this amendment. The amendment was defeated on June 15, 2011 by a vote of 99-324.
20. Vehicle Subsidies. HR 2354 (Roll Call 580)
The House rejected an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill that would eliminate funding for the Advanced Manufacturing Loan Program and apply the funds saved to the federal deficit. This program gives taxpayer money to manufacturers who work on vehicle programs favored by the government. ACU opposes government programs that pick winners and losers in the marketplace and supported this amendment. The amendment failed on July 14, 2011 by a vote of 114-309.
21. Spending increase. HR 2354 (Roll Call 586)
The House passed an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill increasing spending on renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by $10 million. These programs had received massive increases in the 2009 budget and the Obama stimulus program. ACU opposes these attempts to reverse modest spending cuts and opposed this amendment. Nevertheless, the House passed the amendment on July 15, 2011 by a vote of 212-210.
23. Endangered Species Act. HR 2584 (Roll Call 652)
The House rejected an amendment to eliminate a provision in the Interior Appropriations Bill that would place a moratorium on new listings under the Endangered Species Act. ACU supports a moratorium on a program that has been used as a vehicle to stop development and harass private property owners and opposed this amendment. The amendment failed on July 28, 2011 by a vote of 181-240.
24. Debt Limit Increase. S 365. (Roll Call 690)
The House passed a bill that allowed a debt increase of up to $2.5 trillion with no spending reductions required in Fiscal Year 2012. The bill also set up a “supercommittee” of twelve members of Congress who were to meet in secret to negotiate a deficit reduction of $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The bill also requires a ”sequestration” or automatic reduction of $1.2 trillion in spending over 10 years if no other agreement is reached by 2013. ACU opposes automatic debt limit increases with no congressional action required and opposed this bill. The bill passed on August 1, 2011 by a vote of 269-161.
25. “Catch-All Appropriations. HR 2055 (Roll Call 941)
The House passed a year-end appropriations bill, known as the “Omnibus” bill that funded $915 billion dollars in one 2,300 page bill for Fiscal Year 2012 The bill avoided limits imposed in the debt-limit negotiations by labeling additional spending as “emergency spending” so the total spending for the year is an increase over Fiscal Year 2011. ACU opposes these massive bills that are written in secret and passed with no amendments allowed. Nevertheless the bill passed the House on December 16, 2011 by a vote of 296-121.
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