Jefferson Awards

Citizens for a Sound Economy is proud to announce the Jefferson Award winners for the 106th Congress. The Jefferson Award recognizes Members of Congress for supporting CSE’s efforts in fighting for less government, lower taxes and more freedom.

Over the past two years, CSE has key voted a number of votes, tracking how your representatives and senators voted on our key issues. Issues include: Tax & Budget, Tort Reform, Environment, Health, Labor & Education, and Technology. See below to view the specific legislation that was key voted.

HR 4810 – Marriage Tax Penalty Relief Reconciliation Act of 2000. The current tax code is not family-friendly. In fact, millions of couples are slapped with a “marriage penalty” every year. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. For more information on the marriage penalty Click Here. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 4199 – The Sunset the Code bill was a date-certain elimination of the current tax code. America’s tax system is broken and in need of fundamental reform. Gone are the days when the tax system was designed simply to raise the necessary revenues to fund essential government programs. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view more information on “Scrapping the Code”. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

House Joint Resolution 37 –
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States with respect to tax limitations. Taxpayers know that they are pawns in this game. Congress changes the tax code every year and does what seems impossible – makes the tax code even more complex and burdensome. Americans deserve a fairer, flatter tax system, and restricting tax increases by requiring a three fifths majority to raise taxes is a critical part of fundamental tax reform. CSE urged a YES vote on this joint resolution. Click Here to view a summary of this joint resolution.

HR 4865 – CSE urges a YES vote on repealing the 1993 tax increase on Social Security benefits. By repealing this tax increase, Congress would take a strong first step toward eliminating one of the most unfair taxes imposed on seniors: the tax on Social Security benefits. Because Social Security benefits are financed with tax dollars, taxing these benefits is yet another incidence of “double taxation.” Furthermore, the 1993 tax increase on Social Security benefits is no more than an accounting trick allowing politicians to disguise their efforts to reduce Social Security benefits to working seniors. CSE supports relieving seniors of this unfair burden. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 775 – This legislation attempts to reduce the amount of frivolous lawsuits pertaining to the Y2K problem, therefore allowing businesses the time and money to properly fix the problem. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 775 Conference Report – CSE urged a YES vote on the conference report. Click Here to view the conference report.

HR 1875 – Interstate Class Action – This legislation will go a long way toward correcting the serious, rampant class-action abuses that are ripping off consumers and their families. This bill will restore the balance between state and federal courts by allowing federal courts to hear interstate class-action suits. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 701 – The federal government already owns nearly one-third of all land in the United States, and much of this land is managed poorly from both an environmental and an economic perspective. H.R. 701 creates an unprecedented multi-billion dollar slush fund for new federal land purchases, provides for the expenditure of billions of taxpayer dollars with no further act of appropriation, removes such expenditures from public view, and creates perverse incentives for states to increase their own land budgets. CSE urged a NO vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 1074 – Regulatory Right-to-Know Act of 1999. This legislation would increase accountability in the regulatory process by requiring federal agencies to openly and honestly present the costs and benefits of the regulatory programs to the people’s elected representatives. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 3709 – Internet Nondiscrimination Act. To extend for five years the moratorium enacted by the Internet Tax Freedom Act, and for other purposes. Not only does every state in the union have a budget surplus, but state tax revenues have doubled in the past 10 years. E-commerce does not threaten the existing tax base. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

House Joint Resolution 57 – Disapproving the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the products of the People’s Republic of China. This vote signifies support for normalized trade relations with China, and opposition to punishing American citizens and businesses in what would likely be an unsuccessful effort to aid the people of China. CSE urged a NO vote on this joint resolution. Click Here to view a summary of this joint resolution.

HR 4444 – China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) — To authorize extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the People’s Republic of China. This legislation would further expand our rapidly growing electronic commerce (e-conomy) and influence the Chinese people with our culture of individual liberty and economic freedom. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 3916 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on telephone and other communication services. This legislation would put an end to the century-old excise tax on telephone usage. This tax was originally enacted to help fund the Spanish-American War fought at the end of the 19th century and is still a 3 percent tax burden on every American family’s phone bill. This costs Americans more than over $5 billion a year. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 2723 – Bipartisan Consensus Managed Care Improvement Act of 1999. This bill would raise the costs of health insurance drastically and put those dollars dollars into the pockets of trial lawyers. This legislation would force hundreds of thousands of Americans to lose their health insurance by making it more expensive and perilous for employers to provide this benefit for their employees. CSE urged a NO vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 2990 – This bill will help ensure that more Americans have greater access to affordable health insurance. By helping small businesses, the self-employed, and individual consumers afford health insurance, this bill addresses the most important issues in health care –access and affordability– and avoids the pitfalls of heavy-handed government regulation and endless litigation. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 3081 – This unwarranted intrusion by Washington into transactions in the marketplace will weaken the job prospects of the unemployed, thwart welfare reform, reduce job creation, increase inflation, and stifle economic growth. CSE urged a NO vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.


Senate Key Votes

HCR 68 – The congressional budget plan is premised on the belief that the mounting budget surpluses are, in fact, a surplus of tax dollars that should be returned to taxpayers. Congress’s budget plan contains three encouraging elements:

  • It promises significant spending reductions over the next ten years — equaling tax relief of thousands of dollars for each taxpayer.

  • It promises to honor the discretionary spending caps enacted in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
  • It promises to protect $1.8 trillion in Social Security surpluses from being used for more spending.

CSE urged a YES vote. Click Here for a summary of the bill.

HR 2488 – Tax relief for the American people is long overdue. This plan gives every American a 10% tax cut, abolishes the death tax, delivers significant marriage penalty relief an cuts taxes on education and retirement savings. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 8 – The Death Tax Elimination Act. No section of the tax code is more unfair and more dangerous to our entrepreneurial economy than the death tax. With rates as high as 55 percent, the death tax punishes people who build a successful business or farm and try to leave that legacy to their kids. Moreover, the death tax’s modest contributions to the federal Treasury are more than off set by its staggering impact on the U.S. economy. CSE urged a YES vote on this bill. For more information on the death tax Click Here. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 4810 – Marriage Tax Penalty Relief Reconciliation Act of 2000. The current tax code is not family-friendly. In fact, millions of couples are slapped with a “marriage penalty” every year. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. For more information on the marriage penalty Click Here. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 775 – This legislation attempts to reduce the amount of frivolous lawsuits pertaining to the Y2K problem, therefore allowing businesses the time and money to properly fix the problem. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

HR 775 Conference Report – CSE urged a YES vote on the conference report. Click Here to view the conference report.

House Joint Resolution 57 – Disapproving the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the products of the People’s Republic of China. This vote signifies support for normalized trade relations with China, and opposition to punishing American citizens and businesses in what would likely be an unsuccessful effort to aid the people of China. CSE urged a NO vote on this joint resolution. Click Here to view a summary of this joint resolution.

HR 4444 – China Permanent Normal Trade Realtions (PNTR) – To authorize extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the People’s Republic of China. This legislation would further expand our rapidly growing electric commerce e-conomy and influence the Chinese people with our culture of individual liberty and economic freedom. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

S.AMDT.3827 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to temporarily reduce the federal fuels tax to zero. With gas prices skyrocketing the American people deserve a tax break from the federal excise tax on gas. CSE urged a YES vote on this amendment. Click Here to view a summary of this amendment.

S 1344 – Individuals already have the right to sue their health plans. Health care is already unaffordable for 43 million Americans, and forcing us to pay for frivolous lawsuits and punitive damages against the health care industry will make health care less accessible for working families. CSE urged a YES vote on this legislation. Click Here to view a summary of the legislation.

Senate Amendment 3917 – The McCain Amendment withholds funding for the costly federal sugar program for fiscal year 2001. Since 1934, American taxpayers have subsidized the sugar industry with price support loans and strict import quotas in various forms. According to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), each year American taxpayers pay close to $2 billion in artificially high sugar prices. Furthermore, taxpayers paid an additional $60 million this year to bail out sugar producers facing massive loan defaults. Sadly, approximately 42 percent of all sugar program benefits go to just 1 percent of growers. These are not small family farmers, but big sugar tycoons who each year obtain tens of millions of dollars through this federal subsidy at the expense of American consumers and taxapayers. CSE urges a NO vote to table the McCain Amendment.
Click Here to view a summary of the amendment.