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ADA Releases 2008 Voting Record
Posted Feb 02 2009
Press Releases >>

Washington, DC - Americans for Democratic Action released the 2008 Congressional Voting Record today, covering the second session of the 110th Congress.  Since ADA's founding in 1947, ADA's Voting Records have served as the standard guideline measuring a legislator's political liberalism.

The overall liberal quotient (LQ) for both chambers was 56%, tying last year’s record score.  House Democrats achieved an admirable 89% dropping slightly from their 2007 score of 92%.  Senate Democrats increased their score to 90% from their 2007 score of 87%. 

House Republicans’ improved their overall LQ from 16% in 2007 to 22% this year; the Senate tied last year’s score of 20%.  Although still far to the right of mainstream Americans, both House and Senate Republicans have more than doubled their score in the last two years.

“Despite their improved scores, the record really highlights how a small band of Republican obstructionists in the Senate are blocking progress,” said Darryl Fagin, ADA Legislative Director.  “The House passed an extraordinary amount of good legislation, but Senate Republicans made sure much of it never received an up or down vote.”

Thirty percent of the Senate votes included in the 2008 voting record are instances where Republicans prevented cloture - the 60 votes needed to end debate and proceed to a vote on the legislation.

ADA's 2008 Congressional Voting Record is compiled of twenty key votes on a wide range of social and economic issues, both domestic and international; the ADA Voting Records provide a comprehensive picture of an elected official's policy position.  A Liberal Quotient (LQ) of 100% represents total support of ADA's positions on the year's selected votes, while 0% represents no support.  Those Members of Congress considered moderates generally score between 40% and 60%. 

Copies of the voting record are available to download at www.adaction.org and visitors to ADA’s website can calculate their own liberal score.