Seven years ago, we began tracking the votes of members of Congress on key privacy and surveillance issues. It’s time to highlight House legislators who have voted consistently to protect your privacy against government intrusion.
We’re non-partisan and fact-based. We don’t rate based on whether we think a legislator is smart, nice or ethical. We rate based on what members do publicly – cosponsorships and votes – not on what they say. We grade hard; go here for a detailed methodology.
In the House, 15 Democrats and six Republicans currently get an A+ rating.
With the exception of McCollum, all 15 A+ Democrats are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Nine represent districts west of the Mississippi (Blumenthal, Doggett, DeFazio, Grijalva, Lee, Lieu, Lowenthal, McCollum, Takano). Welch, Pingree and McGovern are white New Englanders representing mostly rural districts. Clarke and Velazquez are people of color representing districts in New York City; Schakowsky represents the North Side of Chicago. The average age among A+ Democrats is 70. Recently, even the A+ Democrats in our scorecard all voted for a heavily whipped House bill that increased funding for DHS and FBI in the name of fighting domestic terrorism.
Five of the six Republicans on our list are men in their sixties (Massie is 50). Four (Gohmert, Gosar, Perry, Schweikert) belong to the Freedom Caucus; four represent districts west of the Mississippi. McClintock and Massie are not Freedom Caucus members, but are generally anti-tax, anti-war and anti-drug-prohibition. The average age among A+ Republicans is 61.
To see the Senate Superstars, click here.