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A Scorecard for the 105th Congress

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The Votes

The following is a list of the votes we selected to review on our scorecard. These votes reflect a sampling of issues like education reform, national sovereignty, and family tax relief. While there were many other issues that HSLDA tracked, lobbied, or took a position on during this Congress, for purposes of accuracy and fairness in our scoring we chose only those votes that reached the full House or Senate. Therefore we did not include committee votes.
    Four of the selected votes occurred in both the House and Senate: Federal Testing, Federal Education Block Grants, A+ Education Savings Accounts, and Federal Education Spending. We also included a key Senate vote on American sovereignty (the UN Chemical Weapons Convention) as well as a key family tax vote in the House (the $500 per Child Tax Credit). A brief history of each vote follows.

Federal Testing

Senate
#1
HSLDA Supported

In the Senate—Senate Amendment No. 2300, sponsored by Sen. Ashcroft
    Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO) introduced this amendment to H.R. 2646, the A+ Education Savings Accounts Bill, as part of a Unanimous Consent agreement in the Senate to end the Democrats’ filibuster of the bill. The amendment would have prohibited the federal government from using its funds to develop, field test, implement, or administer any national test without explicit direction from Congress. Although approved by a 52-47 vote on April 22, 1998, the Ashcroft amendment was stripped from H.R. 2646 during conference committee proceedings.

House
#1
HSLDA Supported

In the House—H.R. 2846, sponsored by Rep. Goodling
    Back in 1997, shortly after President Clinton announced his plans to implement a federal test, Representative Bill Goodling (R-PA) introduced an amendment to the Fiscal Year 1998 education appropriations bill. Goodling’s amendment—approved in September 1997—provided a one-year ban on funding for federal testing. Immediately after the beginning of the second session of the 105th Congress, Goodling introduced a standalone bill to permanently prohibit the federal government from using its funds to develop, field test, implement, or administer any national test without the explicit direction of Congress. The bill passed on February 5, 1998, by a vote of 242-174. Although H.R. 2846 never made it to a Senate floor vote, most of its language was incorporated into the Goodling-Ashcroft amendment to the 1999 appropriations bill and signed into law by President Clinton on October 21, 1998.

Federal Education Block Grants

Senate
#2
HSLDA Supported

In the Senate—Senate Amendment No. 2293, sponsored by Sen. Gorton
    This amendment was introduced to H.R. 2646, the A+ Education Savings Accounts Bill, as part of a Unanimous Consent agreement to end the Democrats’ filibuster of the bill. The amendment, introduced by Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), would have turned $11 billion of federal education programs into block grants to the states to use as they deemed appropriate. Gorton’s amendment, which would have effectively ended the Goals 2000 and School-to-Work programs, was passed by a 50-49 vote, but it was later stripped from H.R. 2646 during conference committee proceedings.

House
#2
HSLDA Supported

In the House—H.R. 3248, sponsored by Rep. Pitts
    Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) was successful in steering his Dollars to the Classroom Act through the House. The bill would have turned $2.68 billion of federal education programs into block grants to the states to use as they deemed necessary. This measure would have effectively ended federal mandates for Goals 2000 and School-to-Work, along with 27 other programs. H.R. 3248 passed on September 18, 1998, by a vote of 212-198.

A+ Education Savings Accounts

Senate
#3
HSLDA Supported

In the Senate—H.R. 2646, introduced by Sen. Coverdell
    Senator Paul Coverdell (R-GA) introduced this bill as an expansion of the already-existing Higher Education Savings Accounts, which enable parents to deposit up to $500 annually into tax-free, interest-bearing savings accounts for their children’s higher education expenses. Coverdell’s bill would have extended the accounts to elementary and secondary education expenses and allowed parents to deposit up to $2,000 annually. An amended version of the bill passed the Senate, the bill went to conference committee, and the Conference Report passed the Senate by a vote of 59-36. President Clinton vetoed H.R. 2646 on July 21, 1998.

House
#3
HSLDA Supported

In the House—H.R. 2646, introduced by Rep. Bill Archer (R-TX)
    This was the House vote on Senator Paul Coverdell’s bill. (See full description of Senate vote above.) The Conference Report passed the House by a vote of 225-197. President Clinton vetoed H.R. 2646 on July 21, 1998.

UN Chemical Weapons Convention

Senate
#4
HSLDA Supported

In the Senate—S. Resolution 75
    The UN Convention on Chemical Weapons, which is completely binding in the United States because of our Constitution, requires signatories to eliminate production of certain chemical weapons and submit to weapons inspections on demand. Provisions in the treaty would allow UN inspectors to search facilities producing or using any chemical which could be used in weapons production. Since virtually any chemical falls in this category, thus making every U.S. manufacturing plant open for UN inspection, conservatives urged the Senate not to ratify the treaty. Ratification of treaties requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate. The resolution passed the Senate by a vote of 74-26 on April 24, 1997.

$500 per Child Tax Credit

House
#4
HSLDA Supported

In the House—H.R. 2014
    As a part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the 105th Congress included a tax credit of $500 per child under the age of 17—directly reducing the amount of taxes that hard-working parents have to pay. The Balanced Budget Act Conference Report passed the House on July 31, 1997, by a vote of 389-43.

Federal Education Spending

Senate
#5
HSLDA Supported

In the Senate—H.R. 2264
     The appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education went through a long conference committee process due to some controversial provisions. Included in Title III, Department of Education funding, was a $3 billion increase in total spending over Fiscal Year 1997 amounts. The Senate passed the conference report on November 8, 1997, by a vote of 91-4.

House
#5
HSLDA Supported

In the House—H.R. 2264
     This vote increased the Federal Department of Education budget by $3 billion. (See full description of Senate vote above.) The House passed the conference report on November 7, 1997, by a vote of 352-65.

Summary of the Scores

How did the Senate do? Only six senators scored 100 percent on HSLDA’s five-issue scorecard for the 105th Congress. They are Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Bob Smith (R-NH), Jesse Helms (R-NC), James Inhofe (R-OK), and John Ashcroft (R-MO). A whopping 39 senators scored zero, including two Republicans: Arlen Specter (PA) and James Jeffords (VT). No Democrat scored above 20 percent.
    The House, on the whole, was far more conservative on home school issues than the Senate. Sixty-eight members scored 100 percent, including one Democrat, Virgil Goode (VA-5). Forty-three scored at zero, all Democrats and one independent. Five Republicans finished the session with a score of 50 percent or lower: Representatives Don Young (AK), Sherwood Boehlert (NY-23), Ben Gilman (NY-20), Nancy Johnson (CT-6), and Connie Morella (MD-8).