The New York League of Conservation Voters has released a report card on how Congress Members representing the Capital Region and the Hudson Valley are doing when it comes to environmental, public health and energy issues.
The League of Conservation Voters Scorecard for 2012 shows Democratic members of the Congress scored consistently higher on environmental issues that their Republican counterparts.
League officials rate the New York delegation to the 112th US Congress as above average, scoring a combined 93 out of 100 for the Senate and 65 for the House.
2012 featured 14 Senate votes and 35 House votes on issues spanning the environment, energy and public health.
National League of Conservation Voters' deputy legislative director Alex Taurel noted the best that could be said about the second session of the 112th Congress, is that it's over.
Most Capital Region and Hudson Valley Democrats scored in the 90 percent range in 2012 – the now-retired Maurice Hinchey scored 97 percent, Paul Tonko 94 per cent, Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey 91 percent each. Republicans Chris Gibson and Nan Hayworth garnered the highest scores of any House Republicans. Hayworth, who lost to Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney in November, voted in favor of environmental issues 46 percent of the time while Gibson achieved 40 percent.
New York League Senior Vice President Josh Klainberg pointed out that New York's House Average has a passing grade of 65 per cent, compared to the National Average of 39 per cent.
New York’s two U.S. senators, democrats Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, each scored 93 percent on the 2012 Scorecard, well above the national average.
