Republicans Pro Life? Scorecard for Children Shows GOP's Disregard for Poor Kids

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: Hold members of Congress accountable
How well do your members of Congress protect children? Once again, that’s the question answered by the Children’s Defense Fund Action Council’s annual nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard. In this newly-released report, individual Senators and Representatives and state delegations were given nonpartisan rankings based on their votes in Congress during 2004 on legislation affecting children’s lives. Some Members of Congress received strong marks for standing for children—and some are failing miserably. This year, it is more important than ever that our members of Congress are held accountable for their actions. In the next weeks or months U.S. Senators and Representatives will be casting critical votes on a national budget that threatens to make permanent tax cuts that lavish massive tax breaks on the rich while imposing budget caps, cuts, freezes, and block grants on programs for poor children and families including Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and Head Start. America’s children and families did not create the deficit and should not have to pay for it with their very lives, health care, education, nutrition, and safety. [more]

More than 9 million children under age 19 in the United States  have no health insurance, and nearly 90 percent of them are in  working families.

• 9.3 million children were uninsured for all of 2002―one in eight children in the United States.
  
• Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment has steadily risen from 3.3 million in 2000 to 4.6 million in 2001, 5.3 million in 2002 and 5.8 million in 2003. About 6 million of the 9.3 million uninsured children are, however, eligible for Medicaid or CHIP under current law. 
  
• In 2001, infants born to Black mothers were more than twice as likely as infants born to White mothers to die before their first birthday. Non-Latino Black and Latino women were almost three times as likely as non-Latino White women to have late or no prenatal care.  [more]

The Worst Senators for Children, Scored Below 10%
Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO)  8% 
Sen. George Allen (R-VA)  8% 
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)  8% 
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)  8%
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) 8%
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) 8%
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) 8%
Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) 8%
Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY)  8% 
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)  8%
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) 8%
Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) 8%
Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK) 8%
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)  8%
Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) 8%
Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY)  8%

The Worst Representatives for Children, Scored Below 10%
Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-NE) 9%
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) 8%
Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) 8%
Rep. John A. Boehner (R-OH) 8%
Rep. Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-SC) 8%
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) 8%
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) 8%
Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) 8%
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) 8%
Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers (R-MI) 8%
Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) 8%
Rep. Paul E. Gillmor (R-OH) 8%
Rep. Mark Green (R-WI) 8%
Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO) 8%
Rep. John N. Hostettler (R-IN) 8%
Rep. Kenny C. Hulshof (R-MO) 8%
Rep. William L. Jenkins (R-TN) 8%
Rep. Ric Keller (R-FL) 8%
Rep. John Linder (R-GA) 8%
Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA) 8%
Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO) 8%
Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) 8%
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA) 8%
Rep. Jerry Moran (R-KS) 8%
Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) 8%
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) 8%
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) 8%
Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) 8%
Rep. Rob Portman (R-OH) 8%
Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) 8%
Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA) 8%
Rep. Dennis R. Rehberg (R-MT) 8%
Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-NY) 8%
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) 8%

The Best Senators for Children, Scored 100%
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)  100%  Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ)  100%  Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)  100%  Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)  100%  Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)  100% Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) 100% Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) 100% Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)  100%

The Best Representatives for Children, Scored 100%
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) 100% Rep. Thomas H. Allen (D-ME) 100% Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D-NJ) 100% Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) 100% Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) 100% Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) 100% Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) 100% Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) 100% Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) 100% Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) 100% Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) 100% Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) 100% Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) 100% Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)  100% Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-NJ) 100% Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-IL) 100% Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) 100% Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) 100% Rep. Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI)  100% Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) 100% Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) 100% Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA) 100% Rep. George Miller (D-CA) 100% Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) 100% Rep. John W. Olver (D-MA) 100% Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) 100% Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ) 100% Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-NJ) 100% Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 100% Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) 100% Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-CA) 100% Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL) 100% Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-NY) 100% Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-CA) 100% Rep. Fortney “Pete” Stark (D-CA) 100% Rep. John F. Tierney (D-MA) 100% Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM) 100% Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) 100% Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) 100% Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) 100% Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) 100% Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-CA) 100%

• To see the complete CDF Action Council Congressional Scorecard online, visit [here]