Wisconsin lawmakers Green, Ryan share top pork watchdog scores

June 28 -- U.S. Representatives Mark Green and Paul Ryan share the top score for congressional fiscal restraint in 2003, according to a government pork watchdog group.

The 95 points scored by each put the two Wisconsin Republicans in the "taxpayer's hero" category, according to the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.

That, however, is not quite good enough for CCAGW. "For the first time since 1994, there were no Taxpayer Superheroes (with scores of 100 percent) in the entire Congress," the group said in a prepared statement.

"Our 2003 Congressional Ratings are proof that Congress was on a massive spending spree last year,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said. “Vote tallies show that Congress was more interested in spending money than in fiscal sanity.”

U.S. Representative Gerald Kleczka, a Democrat who represents the Milwaukee area, scored a paltry 11 -- the lowest among then entire Congressional delegation -- putting him in the "hostile" category.

All the members of the Democratic Wisconsin House team, in fact, earned "hostile" ratings, while Sen. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, both Democrats, didn't score quite that low.

The grades were based on votes on 38 bills in the House and 25 bills in the Senate.

The group's definition of a taxpayer victory or defeat could lead to a good argument in a bar.

CCAGW, for example, considered a House vote for a $250,000 limit on non-economic damages in medical malpractice suits to be a victory for taxpayers. It considered the House defeat of a bill that would relax fuel economy standards for cars a taxpayer victory; it also scored as a victory the defeat of a bill that would have prevented drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The group also counted as taxpayer losses a Senate vote to increase Amtrak funding by $912 million, as well as a a Senate vote to prohibit privatization of the air traffic control system.

To read more about the votes considered, click here.

Below are the scores of the Wisconsin delegation and the category that the respective score puts each member into, according to CCAGW.

House of RepresentativesTammy Baldwin (D); 13; hostile.

Mark Green (R); 95; taxpayer hero.

Ron Kind (D); 18; hostile.

Gerald Kleczka (D); 11; hostile.

David Obey (D); 13; hostile.

Thomas Petri (R); 89; taxpayer hero.

Paul Ryan (R); 95; taxpayer hero.

F. James Sensenbrenner; 89; taxpayer hero.

SenateRuss Feingold (D); 44; lukewarm.

Herb Kohl (D); 20; unfriendly.