Many organizations release Congressional scorecards based on a single issue or concern, but the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy is distinctive in its focus on an overall agenda of expanding opportunity for the nation’s current and aspiring middle class.
TheMiddleClass.org 2008 Congressional Scorecard issues each member of Congress, as well as the House and Senate as a whole, and each party, a letter grade based on votes on legislation that impacts the middle class. We selected bills that, if passed, would impact middle-class Americans as well as low-income Americans striving for a middle-class standard of living. But this raises a question: who and what is the middle class?
The middle class is more than an income bracket
Over the past fifty years, a middle-class standard of living in the United States has come to include secure jobs that can support a family; a safe and stable home; access to health care; retirement security; time off for vacation, illness and major life events; opportunities to save for the future and avoid crippling debt; and the ability to provide a good education, including a college education, for one’s children. When these middle-class fundamentals are within the reach of most Americans, the nation is stronger economically, culturally and democratically.
We are concerned not only with those who currently enjoy a middle-class standard of living, but also with expanding the ability and opportunities of poor people to enter the middle class. In a nation increasingly polarized between the very wealthy and everyone else, DMI sees the poor and middle class as sharing many of the same interests.
Congress and the Middle Class in 2008
In the face of the economic calamity of 2008, Congress struggled to muster a response that truly addressed the scope of the problem. While it would be unreasonable to expect a single legislative year to undo the consequences of more than a decade of bad policy, Congress’ inability to effectively address the home mortgage crisis, extend a lifeline to the auto industry, or pass a much-needed second stimulus bill before the end of 2008 has failed many current and aspiring middleclass Americans who will lose their jobs or their homes as a result. The minimally accountable bailout of the financial industry – ultimately approved by Democrats and Republicans alike— represents one of the greatest failures.
Still, the year brought small but meaningful gains to the middle class: unemployed workers got the extension of benefits they urgently needed, the New GI Bill offered fresh opportunity to veterans, and the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act hiked Pell Grants for low-income students aspiring to the middle class. In the wake of massive recalls of dangerous toys, families shopping for their children had less to fear as Congress banned many unsafe products from store shelves. Funds to stabilize neighborhoods wracked by foreclosure were authorized by the House and ultimately signed into law as part of a separate bill. And with a glimmer of hope for the future, a majority of House members voted to override President Bush’s veto on expanding health coverage to low-income children, and voted to regulate the worst abuses of credit card companies.
Overall, Congress managed to get a passing grade in 2008, but legislators could have done much better. 71% of Representatives and 62% of Senators earned a C or greater. While this is a significant improvement from the 109th Congress, Americans striving to attain and hold onto a middle-class standard of living during a period of increasing hardship deserve a great deal more from their elected representatives.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE BILLS
The Best News: Pell Grants, the New GI Bill, Extended Unemployment, and Toy Safety.
A college education is one of the best routes to a middle-class standard of living—as well as one of the highest costs middle-class families face. This year, Congress took two important steps to increase college access. The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act increased Pell Grants for low-income students and made them more broadly available, simplified federal financial aid applications, and introduced a student loan forgiveness program for graduates working in areas of national need, among other provisions. Meanwhile, the New GI Bill offers full funding for a public college education to recent veterans. The New GI Bill passed as an amendment to military spending legislation; that amendment also included a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits for workers who exhausted their current benefits without finding work. That measure is particularly vital because unemployment benefits both support families directly suffering job loss and provide highly efficient stimulus to the entire economy. Stronger regulations on toy safety rounded out the list of measures positive for the middle class that were signed into law.
It Could Have Been Worse: Stimulus, Neighborhood Stabilization and Renewable Energy.
Congress tried to stimulate the economy with a $150 billion package of tax cuts for households and for business. Many economists believe the legislation may have helped to delay the plunge in consumer spending that occurred later in the year, but the overall effect was insufficient to reignite economic growth. Still, the respite—and opportunity to pay down debt—that it offered to middle-class families was welcome. Another positive measure was the Neighborhood Stabilization Act, a set of grants and loans intended for local communities to rehabilitate abandoned housing and deal with other effects of the foreclosure crisis. This bill passed the House and never came to a vote in the Senate. Nevertheless a smaller amount of funding for neighborhood stabilization was included in another foreclosure bill that passed Congress. Renewable energy legislation traveled a similar path. Renewable energy offers tremendous promise for the American middle class: new green jobs, more stable energy costs, and environmental and public health benefits. But jump starting the development of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies requires substantial public investment. The House voted to make that investment, while the Senate killed the bill with a filibuster. Funding for renewable energy was ultimately signed into law as part of the bank bailout.
The Auto Bailout Vs. the Bank Bailout.
As the economy plummeted at the end of 2008, two major American industries sought assistance from the federal government. Ultimately, Congress disappointed the middle class with both bailouts. Carmakers sought $14 billion in loans to prevent the industry from collapsing and taking millions of jobs with it. The House approved the measure, insisting that, in return, the public get a stake in the auto companies and that the companies work with a government representative to restructure their operations to achieve long-term viability, international competitiveness, greater energy efficiency, and lower emissions. The legislation would have benefited the middle class by preserving a vital source of good jobs while instituting necessary public oversight over the restructuring. Yet the Senate killed the bill with a filibuster. Ultimately, the White House provided the assistance companies needed to keep operating. The bailout of the banking industry played out very differently. The bill offered $700 billion to financial institutions with few strings attached—it neither required banks to lend money to an economy in need nor addressed the housing crisis at the root of the financial meltdown. While action to bolster the financial sector was clearly needed, this legislation simply did too little to protect the interests of the American middle class. Nevertheless, after some false starts, both chambers of Congress passed the bill. In the end, the nation’s middle class lost out with both the rejection of a responsible auto bailout and the passage of an unaccountable financial bailout.
More Bad News: Congress Fails on Climate Change, Corporate Impunity, Health Coverage, and Foreclosure.
The American middle class faces tremendous challenges: from home foreclosures to reduced access to health coverage, companies taking unfair advantage of middle-class consumers and the potentially devastating risk of climate change. Yet Congress missed opportunities to make a positive difference on these issues. In the House, representatives failed to override President Bush’s veto of legislation to extend health coverage to nearly 4 million uninsured children. In the Senate, an amendment enabling families facing bankruptcy to hold onto their homes was rejected. Senators also filibustered a bill with the potential to mitigate the impact of climate change, which increasingly threatens Americans’ standard of living. And the Senate voted to grant complete legal immunity to telecommunications companies that illegally spied on Americans as part of President Bush’s anti-terrorism program, setting a disturbing precedent for businesses’ relationships with their middle-class customers. Middle-class consumers were also hurt when the Senate failed to take up a promising House bill reining in abusive practices by credit card companies.
TheMiddleClass.org 2008 Congressional Scorecard issues each Member of Congress, as well as the House and Senate as a whole, and each party a letter grade based on his or her votes on selected pieces of legislation in 2008. We selected bills that, if passed, would have an impact on the squeezed middle class as well as on the aspirations of low-income Americans striving towards a middle-class standard of living. For a complete list of bills that count toward legislators' 2008 grades, click here.
We hope TheMiddleClass.org 2008 Congressional Scorecard will be a useful tool to hold Congress accountable and to inform those concerned about the American middle class about key pieces of legislation. While many organizations issue scorecards based on a single issue, the Drum Major Institute is distinctive in its focus on an overall agenda of expanding opportunity for middle-class and aspiring middle-class Americans.
We believe better policy can be created when ordinary citizens—not just political insiders—know how their legislators voted on the issues that matter most to them and when legislators know their constituents are watching.
FOR MORE ON THE 2008 GRADES: