(Washington, D.C.) – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today announced the designation of Senator [?] as “Taxpayer Hero” in its 2004 Congressional Ratings.  For the past 16 years, CCAGW has examined all roll-call votes to determine which members of Congress are interested in protecting tax dollars and which are likely to waste money by voting for legislation that creates new spending programs or contains pork-barrel projects. 

“In the midst of the spendthrift culture on Capitol Hill, our ‘taxpayer heroes’ stood firm,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “We commend them for putting the interests of their taxpaying constituents ahead of their personal interests and special interests.”

For the second session of the 108^th Congress, CCAGW rated 40 key votes in the House and 16 key votes in the Senate.  To receive the “Taxpayer Hero” designation, members of Congress must make fiscally conservative decisions for 80 to 99 percent of the votes that CCAGW tracks.  The votes range from reducing spending in the highway reauthorization bill to the president’s request of $256 billion in the Senate to a 1 percent across-the-board reduction on several appropriations bills in the House.

Sen. [?] shares this distinction with nine other members of the Senate.  They include: [list names here]

“For opposing the waste of money and the spread of bureaucracy, Sen. [?] is a friend to taxpayers,” Schatz said.

CCAGW’s website features the complete 2004 Congressional Ratings, including vote descriptions, scorecards for the House and Senate, personalized scorecards for each member of Congress, historical comparisions, and averages by chamber, party, and state delegation.  Visit www.cagw.org for further information.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.