Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) bid for Senate majority leader on Tuesday won praise from a key conservative interest group that backs limited government and curbing spending and taxes.
The Institute for Legislative Analysis on Tuesday pointed out that when compared to other challengers in the race for Senate majority leader, Scott not only has the higher limited-government voting score but also a higher score on fiscal policy.
Scott is considered President-elect Donald Trump’s pick in the race to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the longtime Republican leader who has bowed out of another term in that post. Scott is running an uphill challenge to Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and John Thune (R-SD).
The ILA is known for grading lawmakers on conservative policies, though it is not allowed to endorse candidates. The better-known conservative grader, the Conservative Political Action Conference, backed Scott for the post last weekend.
Like most congressional scorecards, ILA rates voting records on a 100-point scale, with a “0” representing a progressive government role and a “100” representing a conservative role.
Overall, Scott’s score on ILA’s latest rating card for limited government was 85.7 out of 100. For Cornyn, it was 77.36, and Thune’s score was 71.43. Scott received ILA’s Defender of Limited Government Award for the past two years for his voting record above 80%.
The group pointed out that on taxes and spending, Scott is also tops on its scorecard. Scott’s rating was 73.21, Cornyn’s rating was 52.78, and Thune’s rating was 51.3.
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“Holding a Senate voting record that ranks among the top-10 most closely aligned with the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution, Sen. Rick Scott is clearly committed to leading the fight back against big government and shares President Trump’s vision of what is required to make our country great again,” said Ryan McGowan, the CEO of the Institute for Legislative Analysis.
“Unfortunately, our Senate is chock-full of members touting themselves as ‘conservative’ but who will vote just as often with radical progressives on key tax and fiscal measures as they do with the real conservatives committed to limited government. The status quo simply cannot continue — we must uphold the will of the people from this last election who called for drastic change and a return fiscal responsibility,” he added.