Freedom Index 115-3

Our third look at the 115th Congress shows how every member of the House and Senate voted on key issues such as the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, warrantless surveillance, raw milk (House), and illegal immigration (Senate).

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Senate Votes

21. Warrantless Surveillance

Would reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) through 2023, allowing secret FISA Court-approved surveillance of American citizens.
Read More Constitutional Vote: No
S. 139 Passed 65 to 34 on Jan 18, 2018 See Fourth Amendment and First Amendment

22. Immigration (DACA)

To provide "conditional permanent residence" (i.e., amnesty) to DACA program recipients.
Read More Constitutional Vote: No
H.R. 2579 Roll Call 33 Passed 52 to 47 on Feb 15, 2018 See Article I Section 8, Article I Section 1, and Article II Section 3

23. Immigration (Sanctuary Cities)

The flood of illegal immigrants into the United States has risen to the level of an invasion swamping our Republic, and political entities that provide sanctuary to illegal aliens in contravention of federal immigration laws should not expect to do so while receiving federal aid.
Read More Constitutional Vote: Yes
H.R. 2579 Roll Call 1948 Passed 54 to 45 on Feb 15, 2018 See Article I Section 8, Article I Section 9, and Article VI

24. U.S. Military Intervention in Yemen

Would remove U.S. Armed Forces from "hostilities" in Yemen that have "not been authorized by Congress."
Read More Constitutional Vote: No
S.J.Res. 54 Roll Call 58 Passed 55 to 44 on Mar 20, 2018 See Article I Section 8 and Article II Section 2

25. Omnibus Appropriations

Would provide $1.3 trillion in wasteful and unconstitutional government spending.
Read More Constitutional Vote: No Cost per household: -$10,189.00/year
H.R. 1625 Passed 65 to 32 on Mar 23, 2018 See Article I Section 8 and Article I Section 9

26. Net Neutrality

Regulation of the Internet is not a proper function of the federal government under the Constitution. The new FCC rule under Commissioner Pai was more of a hands-off approach to the Internet, allowing service providers to set their own rules. This is the correct approach, as any provider "throttling" service or overcharging customers will lose business to more competitive providers in a free market setting. Government, in scenarios such as these, will nearly always cause more problems than it claims to attempt to solve. Case in point: Regulations are not always applied equally, as under the Obama FCC rule some sites were forced to "play fair," while some of the big guys, such as Netflix and Google, could still set their own rules.
Read More Constitutional Vote: No
S.J.Res. 52 Passed 52 to 47 on May 16, 2018 See Article I Section 8

27. Haspel Nomination

Haspel was complicit in the use of torture, including waterboarding, a violation of U.S. law as well as the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishments."
Read More Constitutional Vote: No
PN1857 Passed 54 to 45 on May 17, 2018 See Article II Section 2, Article VI, Fifth Amendment, and Eighth Amendment

28. Indefinite Detention

To uphold the right to due process for U.S. citizens and permanent residents on American soil.
Read More Constitutional Vote: No
S.Amdt. 2366 to H.R. 5515 Rejected 30 to 68 on Jun 13, 2018 See Article I Section 9, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and Sixth Amendment

29. Appropriations Cuts

This spending falls outside the scope of constitutionally authorized federal powers, and the federal government needs to start reining in ballooning federal spending (and debt) somewhere in order to avert fiscal disaster. The cuts in this bill comprise only a fraction of one percent of total federal spending, and according to the Congressional Budget Office, most of the unspent funding targeted by the bill would not be spent anyway. Yet modest cuts are better than none at all.
Read More Constitutional Vote: Yes
H.R. 3 Rejected 48 to 50 on Jun 20, 2018 See Article I Section 8, Article I Section 9, and 10th Amendment

30. Waters of the United States

To repeal the Environmental Protection Agency's 2015 "Waters of the United States" rule.
Read More Constitutional Vote: No
H.R. 5895 Passed 62 to 34 on Jun 21, 2018 See Article I Section 8, Article I Section 9, and 10th Amendment

How did they vote?

Legend: Constitutional Unconstitutional Did not vote
Name Party State Score 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Lamar Alexander R TN 50%
Tammy Baldwin D WI 40%
John Barrasso R WY 70%
Michael F. Bennet D CO 40%
Richard Blumenthal D CT 40%
Roy Blunt R MO 50%
Cory A. Booker D NJ 50%
John Boozman R AR 40%
Sherrod Brown D OH 40%
Richard Burr R NC 33%
Maria Cantwell D WA 40%
Shelley Moore Capito R WV 50%
Benjamin Cardin D MD 40%
Thomas Carper D DE 30%
Robert Casey D PA 30%
Bill Cassidy R LA 70%
Thad Cochran R MS 40%
Susan M. Collins R ME 40%
Chris Coons D DE 30%
Bob Corker R TN 56%
John Cornyn R TX 40%
Catherine Cortez Masto D NV 10%
Tom Cotton R AR 60%
Mike Crapo R ID 70%
Ted Cruz R TX 70%
Steve Daines R MT 90%
Joe Donnelly D IN 20%
Tammy Duckworth D IL 25%
Dick Durbin D IL 40%
Michael Enzi R WY 70%
Joni Ernst R IA 70%
Dianne Feinstein D CA 40%
Deb Fischer R NE 70%
Jeff Flake R AZ 70%
Cory Gardner R CO 70%
Kirsten E. Gillibrand D NY 50%
Lindsey Graham R SC 30%
Chuck Grassley R IA 50%
Kamala Harris D CA 50%
Margaret Wood Hassan D NH 30%
Orrin Hatch R UT 50%
Martin Heinrich D NM 40%
Heidi Heitkamp D ND 20%
Dean Heller R NV 70%
Mazie K. Hirono D HI 40%
John Hoeven R ND 50%
Cindy Hyde-Smith R MS 60%
James Inhofe R OK 50%
John Isakson R GA 40%
Ron Johnson R WI 60%
Doug Jones D AL 30%
Tim Kaine D VA 30%
John Kennedy R LA 60%
Angus S. King I ME 30%
Amy Klobuchar D MN 30%
James Lankford R OK 70%
Patrick Leahy D VT 40%
Mike Lee R UT 90%
Joe Manchin D WV 30%
Ed Markey D MA 50%
Claire McCaskill D MO 60%
Mitch McConnell R KY 40%
Bob Menendez D NJ 30%
Jeff Merkley D OR 50%
Jerry Moran R KS 60%
Lisa Murkowski R AK 40%
Chris Murphy D CT 40%
Patty Murray D WA 40%
Bill Nelson D FL 10%
Rand Paul R KY 100%
David Perdue R GA 60%
Gary Peters D MI 30%
Rob Portman R OH 40%
Jack Reed D RI 20%
James E. Risch R ID 70%
Pat Roberts R KS 40%
Mike Rounds R SD 40%
Marco Rubio R FL 50%
Bernie Sanders I VT 50%
Benjamin Sasse R NE 60%
Brian Schatz D HI 40%
Chuck Schumer D NY 30%
Tim Scott R SC 50%
Jeanne Shaheen D NH 25%
Richard Shelby R AL 40%
Tina Smith D MN 40%
Debbie Stabenow D MI 40%
Dan Sullivan R AK 70%
Jon Tester D MT 40%
John Thune R SD 40%
Thom Tillis R NC 50%
Pat Toomey R PA 56%
Tom Udall D NM 40%
Chris Van Hollen D MD 40%
Mark R. Warner D VA 20%
Elizabeth Warren D MA 50%
Sheldon Whitehouse D RI 20%
Roger Wicker R MS 50%
Ron Wyden D OR 40%
Todd Young R IN 50%

Average Freedom Score by Party

PartyScore
Democrat35.3%
Independent40%
Republican56.2%
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