Sen. Mike Lee wins ‘Taxpayers’ Friend Award’ for opposing federal spending
Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s voting record in Congress in the second half of last year reflects a commitment to fiscal responsibility as well as to taxpayers, according to a congressional scorecard.
Each year, the National Taxpayers Union, or NTU, rates U.S. representatives and senators based on their voting record.
With a voting record that looks like a series of noes, Lee, a Republican, received the highest score, 95%, on his scorecard for 2022 and won the Taxpayers’ Friend Award.
All lawmakers are given the “taxpayer score,” which measures their support for “reducing wasteful government spending, opposing higher taxes, and often opposing burdensome regulations that can stifle U.S. economic growth,” according to NTU, a fiscally conservative, nonpartisan organization.
Lee’s high score is an achievement by the measure of fiscal conservatism since the average score for the second session of the 117th Congress is 45%.
“That’s extremely impressive — and it’s hardly the first time he’s done well on NTU’s comprehensive scorecard. Lee has gotten an ‘A’ every year he’s been in the Senate,” Brandon Arnold, the NTU executive vice president, told the Deseret News.
Within Lee’s cohort in 2022, only seven senators and five representatives received the same award.
“This year, he racked up big points by repeatedly standing up for taxpayers and voting against several bloated spending bills and the disastrous and misnamed ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ Year in and year out, Sen. Lee is a Taxpayers’ Friend.”
At the time of the vote in April, Lee said the Inflation Reduction Act was a “classic example of the government breaking your legs and then calling itself a hero for giving you a crutch.”
“This at a time when Americans are wondering how they’re going to fill their gas tanks, how they’re going to pay their rent and how they’re going to feed the families,” he said.
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Still, Lee’s reputation for fiscal responsibility means he’s often voting no on bills, even when some consider the bills beneficial for the Beehive State.
He has voted against legislation aimed to help the opioid crisis, and also disaster relief spending. He was one of 11 senators to vote no on the PACT Act, which sought to expand veterans’ health. Lee also voted no on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which allocated funds to internet access and water infrastructure in Utah.
“Yeah, I voted against that bill — a bill that spent well over a trillion dollars more than we have on all sorts of things that weren’t appropriately federal,” Lee said, defending his decision on the debate stage prior to the 2022 midterms when he was running for reelection.
Lee’s latest proposed legislation is the REINS Act — or the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act. The bill seeks to shift lawmaking power from the executive branch back to Congress, while putting guardrails on passing rules that have over a $100 million impact on the economy, as Deseret News reported.
