Right Rankings
The leading Republicans on the House Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee received high ratings from the American Conservative Union, while their Senate counterparts were among the lowest-scoring senators.
The Alexandria, Va.-based lobbying group released its ratings for 1995 last month.
The House rankings were based on 23 votes. None specifically related to education. Several were on such fiscal matters as the 1996 budget resolution and a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget.
Bill Goodling of Pennsylvania, who chairs the House panel, had a rating of 83 percent. Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California, who chairs the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth, and Families; Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon of California, who chairs the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, Training, and Lifelong Learning; and Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, who heads the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, received ratings of 92 percent, 88 percent, and 84 percent, respectively.
Ratings for ranking Democrats on the committee ranged from zero to 24 percent.
Senators were rated on 22 votes, including a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and spending for the AmeriCorps national-service program.
James M. Jeffords of Vermont, who chairs the Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities, got a rating of 23 percent--the lowest among GOP senators--and Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas, who chairs the full Labor and Human Resources Committee, got 48 percent.
Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrats on the committee and subcommittee, received ratings of 4 percent and 5 percent.
On Disk
Although Congress disbanded its Office of Technology Assessment last fall, its body of research is still available. All 755 reports the ota prepared in its 23-year history, including several on education, have been compiled on CD-ROM.
The five-volume CD-ROM set (S/N 052-003-01457-2) is available from the Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15250-7974; (202) 512-1800.
Other reports are also available from the National Technical Information Service at (703) 487-4650.
--Mark Pitsch
(e-mail: federal@epe.org.)
