Conservative Political Action Conference Chair Matt Schlapp said House Republicans "failed to have any major positive effect" on Congress in the first session of its majority in the 118th Congress.
Further, Schlapp said much of 2023 was "wasted on continuing resolutions," in his annual Center for Legislative Accountability (CLA) report card of conservatives published Monday.
Schlapp began his 74-page report acknowledging that the 2022 mid-terms were "not all we might have wanted," but Republicans had a narrow majority nonetheless, "freed from Speaker Nancy Pelosi."
But House Republicans didn't do enough with it, he said in his assessment.
"Despite the presence of more opportunities to vote on key issues and their majority in the House, Republicans generally failed to have any major positive effect on the overall state of affairs in Congress," he wrote.
"Much of the year was wasted on Continuing Resolutions that kept in place Nancy Pelosi's exorbitant spending policies and failed Congressional Review Act resolutions that let the corrupt bureaucracy in the executive branch maintain its abusive authority," he added.
Schlapp then went into the grades of House Republicans, 71 of whom earned the award for conservative excellence. Fifteen of those earned a perfect 100%. Notably, only Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, earned a 100% in the upper chamber.
One of the specific failures highlighted by Schlapp and CLA was the inability of House Republicans to elect Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as speaker to replace the ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in the fall.
"CPAC acknowledges that Representative Jordan has the highest CPAC rating of all time and supported his bid to become Speaker," it wrote.
Mike Johnson, R-La., was ultimately elected speaker. His lifetime score is 92%.
On the Senate side, the lowest-scoring Republicans included House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 68%; and Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, 59%; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, 55%; and Susan Collins, R-Maine, 54%.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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