Gramm, Paul Are Top `Taxpayers' Friends'

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 21, 2001 | by John Elvin

Sen. Phil Gramm and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, both members of the GOP, ranked highest in this year's "Taxpayers' Friends" ratings by the National Taxpayer's Union (NTU) as crusaders for reduced government spending.

Fighters against the tax burden on Americans still are an exception on Capitol Hill, the group said. The average lawmaker voted less than half the time to reduce or control the federal government's tax-and-spend habit, according to the 300,000-member nonpartisan group.

"Pro-taxpayer voting records in Congress appear to have inched out of a prolonged slump, but most lawmakers had miles to go before they could claim big gains against big government," said John Berthoud, NTU president. Average "pro-taxpayer" votes in both houses inched up a bit last year over the previous year but still were under the 50 percent mark.

At what the NTU calls "the bottom of the heap" were Rep. Came Meek of Florida and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, both Democrats. The group bases its assessments on analysis of every roll-call vote regarding fiscal policy.