Two Senators and 14 Representatives--15 of whom are Republicans--have received 100% ratings from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in its latest ranking of career voting records of members of Congress. The "perfect" Senators are Chuck Hagel (Nebr.) and Robert Smith (Oreg.). The House members: Jay Kim and Ken Calvert (Calif.), Jim Ryun and Vincent Snowbarger (Kans.), Anne Northrup (Ky.), John Cooksey and Chris John (D) (La.), John Peterson and Joseph Pitts (Pa.), William Jenkins and Ed Bryant (Tenn.), Kevin Brady and Kay Granger (Tex.), and Doc Hastings (Wash.).
The rankings reflect the percentage of "correct" votes the members cast throughout their Congressional careers on issues the Chamber deems important to business, and are used to determine candidates the federation will support in elections. They cover 10 key Senate and House votes in 1997, the first session of the 105th Congress.
Receiving the lowest rankings in the Senate were Ted Kennedy (D, Mass.) and Paul Sarbanes (D, Md.), each of whom sided with the Chamber on only 20% of the votes. Lowest scoring House members were Nydia Velazquez (D, N.Y.), with 10%, and Patsy Mink (D, Hawaii) with 14%.
