New Economy Working Group

We awarded “A+” grades to the 12 House members who did the most to narrow America’s economic divide over the past two years. Eleven of these lawmakers won.

Three of the five senators who nailed top marks for their legislative actions to reduce inequality in America were up for re-election. They all won: Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

Of the 45 [one-percent-friendly representatives] who were up for re-election, two lost. One was Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y., who was the lead sponsor of a bill to repeal a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that requires corporations to disclose the ratio between what they pay their CEO and their workers.

This new metric could encourage a narrowing of the staggering inequality gaps within companies. In the midst of Hayworth’s two-year crusade against that provision, the SEC has failed to implement it.

The Great Recession has brought the disparity between the rich and the poor to the forefront of the news. The Occupy Wall Street movement and terms such as the 99% and 1% further highlight the attention about the subject. 

Read more: States with the Widest Gap Between the Rich and Poor - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/10/26/states-with-the-widest-gap-between-the-rich-and-poor/#ixzz2AR0Facpe

Additionally, we looked at the Institute for Policy Studies’ Inequality Report Card, which provided grades to senators and congressmen based on their voting record related to income inequality.

“The growing gap between the rich and the rest of us didn’t just happen by chance,” notes Sam Pizzigati, IPS Associate Fellow. “Conscious political decisions—on taxes, on trade policy, on regulations—have all been driving the divide.”

“Members of Congress have the capacity to make sure all Americans, not just a privileged few, share in the wealth that we all together create,” adds IPS Associate Fellow Sam Klinger. “With this new report card, voters can see for themselves how well their elected lawmakers are meeting that responsibility.”

Their "Congressional Report Card for the 99 percent" identifies 17 members of the Senate from both sides of the aisle, listed on the group's website, who they say are most friendly to the 1 percent of Americans who have the most assets and income.

The group gave 48 representatives and 11 Senators a grade of "F" and 14 representatives and five Senators a grade of "A."

Scott Winship, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, which has often been cited as a "centrist" think-tank, said longer-term trends in inequality are driven mostly by the strength of financial markets than the legislation the Institute for Policy Studies analyzed.

[however] Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow [also] at the Brookings Institution and co-director of the Center on Children and Families, said the Bush tax cuts "very clearly favor the rich."

She called the report "very interesting and well done."

Though the South is the region of the United States with the greatest concentration of income inequality, its representatives in Congress are doing a poor job of addressing the problem.

The Institute for Policy Studies released a report this week that grades federal lawmakers on 40 legislative actions over the past two years that either helped the most affluent or the poorest of their constituents.

The 13 Southern states* earned an average score of C-. Of those 13 states, 10 have among the highest income inequality index scores nationwide.

Report was released today by progressive think-tank: Institute on Policy Studies in Washington, DC that gives a 'report-card' on how well/poor Congress addresses income inequality... As you can expect, 59 Congress members gets an 'F'. I expected that, but the overwhelming numbers of the wealth that these members have (on both sides of the aisle) was sort of mind-boggling.

The "Inequality Report Card," published today by the Institute for Policy Studies, looks at how lawmakers voted on dozens of bills that would, among other things, raise taxes on the wealthy, restrict the use of offshore tax havens, increase the minimum wage, and strengthen labor unions.

The Institute for Policy Studies gave Rep. Tim Scott a failing grade in its Congressional Report Card, which was released yesterday.

He was one of 48 U.S. representatives, and the only one from South Carolina, to receive this lowest grade.

In its report, IPS notes that Scott voted to extend the Bush tax cuts on both high and unearned income (HR 8) and to reduce corporate (HR 9). He voted against a measure that would prevent use of offshore accounts as tax havens (theDoggett Amendment), and Scott also co-sponsored a bill to reduce taxes on overseas earnings (HR 1834). He co-sponsored a bill to eliminate estate taxes (HR 1259), as well.

Buerkle ranked among those on the “dishonor roll” for her votes, which the IPS said consistently favored the interests of the wealthy instead of looking out for the needs of everyone statewide.

Mitt Romney and I both grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a wealthy suburb of Detroit. For much of our childhoods, we were represented in Congress by a tireless defender of the rich and powerful, U.S. Representative William Broomfield... Not every member of Congress is as clear cut in their allegiances as my former Congressman. Which is why the new Institute for Policy Studies “Congressional Report Card for the 99 Percent” is so useful...