Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-09) today was recognized for his outstanding pro-taxpayer voting record last year. The 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), a nonpartisan citizen group, has announced that Rep. Graves is among the distinguished recipients of the 2011 “Taxpayers’ Friend Award.”
The award is given to Representatives and Senators who achieve an “A” grade in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress. The rating, which is based on every roll call vote affecting fiscal policy, assigns a “Taxpayer Score” to each Member of Congress that indicates his or her support for reducing or controlling federal spending, taxes, debt, and regulation. For 2011, a total of 337 House and 234 Senate votes were selected.
“Rep. Graves' pro-taxpayer score was one of the best in the entire Congress,” NTU President Duane Parde said. “By voting time and again to reduce federal spending, taxes, and debt, Rep. Graves has led by example in the fight to defend overburdened taxpayers across the country.”
“If every Member of Congress was as principled as Rep. Graves, current and future generations of Americans could enjoy much lower taxes and a less wasteful government,” Parde concluded. “Hard-working families in Georgia’s 9th District and across the nation owe Rep. Graves a debt of gratitude for his effort on their behalf. He has truly earned the title ‘Taxpayers’ Friend.’”
Background:
Between 2010 and 2011, the average “Taxpayer Score” in the House rose from 42 percent to a rounded level of 50 percent. This is the first time the House mean has managed to reach the halfway mark since 1996. The Senate’s average inched up from 45 percent to 46 percent.
In the latest Congress, 53 lawmakers attained scores sufficient for an “A” grade (a minimum score of 85 percent in the House and 90 percent the Senate) and therefore won the “Taxpayers’ Friend Award” – representing a decline from the 79 who achieved the honor in 2010. Conversely, slightly over 200 Senators and Representatives were tagged with the title of “Big Spender” for posting “F” grades (20 percent or less in the House and 19 percent or less in the Senate).
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Rep. Graves with Andrew Moylan, the National Taxpayers Union VP of Government Affairs, and Duane Parde, President of the NTU