By Michael Gutwig, Editor and Manager
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, all Democrats, were among 49 members of the U.S. Senate to achieve perfect scores of 100 percent on the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) political report for the year 2014. In the U.S. House, Oregon Democrats Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer were among 135 representatives to achieve perfect scores in 2014.
ARA is a constituency group of the national AFL-CIO with a chapter in Portland, Oregon. The Alliance released its annual report detailing the voting record of every U.S. representative and senator on issues they feel are important to current and future retirees.
“This voting record reflects how committed our elected representatives are to retirees and older Americans,” said ARA Executive Director Richard Fiesta. “I urge you to use it to educate yourself on where your elected representatives stand and share it with your friends and neighbors.”
ARA looked at 10 key votes in both the Senate and the House and assigned a “Pro-Retiree” score for each member of Congress. (See explanation of the House votes here, and Senate votes here.)
Thirty-four senators received zeroes from ARA. Of those members of the Senate who have declared their candidacy for president, or who are reported to be considering a run, Ted Cruz (R-TX), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rob Portman (R-OH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Rand Paul (R-KY) scored zero, while Bernie Sanders (I-VT) scored 100 percent.
Another 122 representatives in the House received scores of zero. Among them was GOP presidential candidate Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
In Oregon, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-4th Dist.) scored 90 percent; Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-5th Dist.) scored 80 percent; and Rep. Greg Walden (R-2nd Dist.), scored 13 percent.
In Washington, Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-3rd Dist.) scored 10 percent.
Alliance president Barbara J. Easterling said the 113th Congress was the least productive Congress, with the exception of the one that preceded it.
“In addition to the dysfunction, many in Congress continued to attack our core retiree programs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as well as the pro-retiree provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.”
Easterling said raising the minimum wage is part of the ARA voting record because it would address income inequality, help many seniors who earn the minimum wage, and improve Social Security’s overall finances.
