This week the American Energy Alliance released its American Energy Scorecard for the United States Senate. The AEA scorecard scores voting and co-sponsorship decisions on legislation affecting energy and environmental policy, educating voters on how their senators vote and holding members accountable for those decisions. This year’s Senate scorecard compiles 28 votes and 1 co-sponsorship decision from the full 6-year terms of the Senators up for reelection in 2022. Six Senators achieved better than a 90% score over their full term of office.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) (100%)
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) (97%)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (97%)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) (92%)
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) (92%)
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) (92%)
The two Republican Senators, up for reelection, who scored the lowest were Hoeven, John (R-ND) (75%) and Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK) (72%). Democrats Bennet, Michael F. (D-CO) (7%) and Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY) (4%) were the only two that scored any points from the blue party, while the rest tallied zero points.
There were a number of House of Representatives who scored in the 90-percentile, click here for the list, the AEA also notes members whose voting record were “especially harmful for their districts”.
Reps. Henry Cuellar (14%) and Matt Cartwright (0%) both represent major energy-producing districts. Yet their scores don’t reflect a member working for their local industry. Likewise, Reps. Jared Golden (29%), Sharice Davids (0%), Chris Pappas (11%), Susie Lee (14%), Elaine Luria (0%), Kim Schrier (0%), Elissa Slotkin (0%), Angie Craig (0%), Abigail Spanberger (0%), Jennifer Wexton (0%), Cynthia Axne (0%), Tom O’Halleran (0%), Tom Malinowski (0%), and Dina Titus (0%) represent areas where major employers rely on affordable, reliable energy.
The American Energy Scorecard is guided by the following core principles:
- Promoting affordable, abundant, and reliable energy
- Expanding economic opportunity and prosperity, particularly for working families and those on fixed incomes
- Giving Americans, not Washington bureaucrats, the power to make their own energy choices
- Encouraging private sector innovation and entrepreneurship
- Advancing market-oriented energy and environment policies
- Reducing the role of government in energy markets
- Eliminating the subsidies, mandates, and special interest giveaways that lead to higher energy costs
All members are notified in advance that AEA plans to score an upcoming vote. The scored votes in the last three Congresses cover a range of energy and environmental policy issues.
One co-sponsorship decision was scored, in this case scored against (meaning not cosponsoring scored positively). This was the resolution supporting a Green New Deal, which sought to control every aspect of the economy through controlling energy decisions.
To see a full list of how senators did over their six-year term click here.
“With the failed energy policies in Europe and the war in Ukraine, it has become even clearer that access to affordable and reliable energy must be a top priority for American policymakers,” AEA president Thomas Pyle said. “Voters deserve to know where their elected officials stand on matters related to the promotion of affordable, reliable, American energy. AEA congratulates the American Energy Champions in the House and Senate. These elected officials are committed to American energy production and all the benefits that it entails both at home and around the world.”
The methodology includes two different components, which are weighted differently. The first is roll call votes taken either in the House or the Senate where each vote will be weighted equally against one another. The second component is co-sponsorships of individual pieces of legislation. Over the course of the Congress, AEA will urge members to co-sponsor up to five bills (though it is likely there will be fewer than five). Each co-sponsorship will be worth three percentage points of members’ overall score. Therefore, up to 15% of a member’s score could come from co-sponsorships.
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