FEI Releases Congressional Scorecard for 112th Congress
Posted by Terri Eyden on
2025
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Financial Executives International (FEI) [1] announced on September 10, 2012, the release of its first-ever "Congressional Scorecard," which rates lawmakers' records on their votes for or against FEI's priority legislative issues.
FEI's Government Affairs office in Washington, DC, developed the Scorecard by:
- Identifying key votes from the 112th Congress based on FEI's advocacy committees and overall membership priorities, and
- Calculating the percentage of times lawmakers cast votes in support of FEI's positions out of the total key votes taken.
"As FEI members choose their representation in Congress this November, our Congressional Scorecard will give them valuable information on how their incumbent lawmakers have voted on the issues most important to senior-level financial executives," said Marie Hollein, president and CEO of FEI. "At the same time, the Scorecard complements FEI's advocacy efforts by providing feedback to lawmakers on FEI priorities, increasing their awareness of the implications of their votes."
The House [2] and Senate [3] were each scored on six individual votes that advanced FEI's priorities, including three bills that became law:
- Repeal of the new 1099 reporting mandate from the 2010 health care overhaul bill.
- Repeal of the three percent withholding requirement on government contracts that was set to go into effect in 2013.
- Stabilization of pension funding.
- Extension of all 2001/2003 individual tax rates until December 31, 2013.
- Exemption of derivative end-users from regulatory-imposed margin requirements.
- Clarification of back-to-back swaps between affiliates of the same company that are not subject to clearing and margin requirements.
Hollein added, "Despite Congress' low overall approval rating, FEI's Congressional Scorecard shows that the majority of lawmakers have voted with business and supported FEI's priorities more than half the time. It is worth noting that 48 percent of House members and 22 percent of senators have voted with FEI 100 percent of the time."
FEI's Congressional Scorecard has revealed the following:
- The overall House voting record in support of FEI positions is 83 percent, with Republicans voting with FEI 95 percent of the time and Democrats 66 percent of the time.
- Of the 205 sitting members of Congress who have voted 100 percent with FEI, 186 are Republican and 19 are Democrats.
- The Senate's voting record is 59 percent, with Republicans voting pro-FEI priorities 89 percent of the time, Democrats 33 percent, and Independents 18 percent.
- The twenty-two senators who have voted 100 percent pro-FEI priorities are all Republican. Only three - Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, and Utah's Orrin Hatch - are up for reelection in November.
Later in the week of September 10, members of FEI's Committee on Private Company Policy and Private Company Roundtable will convene on Capitol Hill for the biannual Congressional Fly-in to converse about key legislative issues impacting private companies, including in-depth discussions on the approaching "fiscal cliff" and the likelihood of tax reform taking place in 2013.
To view the complete Congressional Scorecard, visit the FEI website [4].
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Source: September 10, 2012, FEI Press Release