According to Govtrack.us
Senator Jeff Merkley is a “far-left democrat.” The website is intended to help
the American public track the progress of both the state and national
legislatures. It tracks bill statuses, voting records, and the membership of
each legislature. An article published on HuffingtonPost.com (a liberal leaning
online news website) outlines Merkley’s life and experience. The article said
this about the Senator “his entire career
has been animated by a simple philosophy: that each of us has a responsibility
to make the community, the nation, and the planet a better place.” A strong
advocate for social programs, Merkley supports health care reform and welfare
programming. In addition Merkley, “was also honored to take the baton from the
late Senator Ted Kennedy as the lead sponsor of the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act and has made full equal rights for gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender Americans a signature priority.” These sources
indicate that Govtrack accurately characterizes Merkley as a left leaning
liberal, because of his emphasis on equality, welfare, and the use of
government intervention in our everyday lives.
Merkley is not known to cross party lines when
taking votes on bills. Recently, however, he voted counter to his party when
approving John Brennan as the new CIA director. On March 7th.
Senator Merkley with Senators Leahy and Sanders from Vermont joined 31
Republicans in voting Nay to his approval. Merkley expressed concerns over the
Obama administrations drone program. This information comes from the Washington
Post.
Interest group
approval ratings are as follows:
Planned
Parenthood: 100%
Catholic
Advocate-Positions: 0%
Alliance for
retired Americans: 100%
Low ratings from
those that support immigration crackdowns and tougher regulations on
immigration problems: 18-0%
Gun-owners of
America: 17%
NRA: F
American Civil
Liberties Union-Positions: 75%
The National
Lumber and Building Materials Unions: 20%
Human Society
Legislative Fund: 100%
American Farm
Bureau Federation Positions: 40%
These ratings
come from Projectvotesmart.com, the website is a great source that provides
citizens with any ratings an interest group has given to a congress member.
One way to evaluate Merkley’s political positions is by looking at his
ADA score. An ADA score is published by Americans for Democratic Action, the
organization looks at 20 key votes from the past congressional session and
awards points based on a members vote on each issue. The Annual Voting Records
have served as the standard measure of political liberalism. Out of 100 Merkley
scored a 95% from the ADA scores, indicating that he consistently votes very
liberally.
According to CQ Research Weekly’s 2012 publication about Senators who
vote in accordance with the president’s views. Merkley was listed under those
who voted most often in opposition to the president from the democratic party,
he was scored as a 5.2%. Meaning Merkley voted 5% of the time in opposition to
Obama’s stances on issues.
In 2012 Merkley was present for 97% of the votes. He voted in favor of
the Presidents opinion 95% of the time and in opposition 5.2% of the time.
Democrats
Manchin, W.Va. 15.2%
Webb, Va. 11.7
Landrieu, La. 10.4
Nelson, Neb. 10.3
Pryor, Ark. 8.9
Baucus, Mont. 7.6
Harkin, Iowa 6.8
Begich, Alaska 6.7
Casey, Pa. 5.3
Merkley, Ore. 5.2
Mikulski, Md. 5.2
Whitehouse, R.I. 5.2
Tester, Mont. 5.1
http://proxy.augie.edu:2955/cqweekly/document.php?id=weeklyreport113-000004207217&type=hitlist&num=1
In 2012 Senator Merkley voted in agreement with the party for 95% of
all votes, and in disagreement with the majority of the party 5% of the time.
http://proxy.augie.edu:2955/cqweekly/document.php?id=weeklyreport113-000004207218&type=hitlist&num=0
In 2011 Merkley voted in agreement with the majority stance of his
party 98% of the time, and he voted in opposition to the Democratic parties
stance 2% of the time.
http://proxy.augie.edu:2955/cqweekly/document.php?id=weeklyreport112-000004011282&type=hitlist&num=0
In 2010 the senator voted in opposition to the president 4.8% of the
time.
http://proxy.augie.edu:2955/cqweekly/document.php?id=weeklyreport112-000003788814&type=hitlist&num=3
Senator Merkley’s DW
Nominate score for the 112th (2012) congress had the senator at -0.418, he has ranked as the 10th most liberal score
on the list. DW Nominate scores are created based on a congress member’s
history of roll call votes. The score is meant to portray a member’s political
ideology based on their stances on issues from their voting history. A score
that is above zero indicates more conservative preferences, while a negative
score indicates a member as more liberal.
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