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Tea Party protesters, with their signature “Don’t Tread On Me” flags. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
A left-leaning political organization has concluded several House defense hawks voted with the far-right Tea Party on nearly 50 bills most of the time. Behold, “the Tea Party Scorecard.”
The group focused on GOP House members in competitive states, including a number of lawmakers with senior seats on the House Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees. Collectively, those members hold ample sway over defense and security policies, budgets and arms shipments.
Unveiled this week, the scorecard is the brainchild of Americans United for Change (AUC), a liberal organization that describes itself this way: “Through aggressive earned and paid media outreach, grassroots and online organizing and innovative projects like the Bush Legacy Tour, Americans United for Change has challenged the far right conservative voices and ideas that for too long have been mistaken for mainstream American values.”
AUC found House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, an expected candidate to lead the panel next year, voted with the far-right Tea Party 79 percent of the time on those 48 measures. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., voted with the far right 48 percent of the time. And House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., got an 87 percent score.
The Foreign Affairs Committee’s former chairwoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., voted with the Tea Party 77 percent of the time. HASC and Intelligence Committee member Joe Heck, R-Nev., got an 85 percent, with HASC member Mike Coffman, R-Colo., hit the 88-percent mark.
And remember Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., the Tea Party favorite who garnered national headlines last year for pushing an amendment to a Pentagon policy bill that would have ended controversial NSA electronic surveillance programs? Amash voted with Tea Party objectives 96 percent of the time.
Click here to view the full scorecard.
