Representative Kathleen HochulDemocrat of New York District 26Liberal Action Score: 24/100 Conservative Action Score: 12/100
Mailing address: 1711 Longworth House Office Building, Washington DC 20515-3226 Web page and online contact form DC Office Phone: 202-225-5265 NY Office Phone: 716-634-2324 Links to Campaign Contribution Data: We maintain a full list of House Rankings and Senate Rankings for the 112th Congress. Historical Records 111th Congress ...House ...Senate 110th Congress ...House ...Senate 109th Congress ...House ...Senate Additional resources for Congressional and New York politics: New York political directory Fifty states' Political News That's My Congress Unconventional Sources New York political shirts Sweatshop-Free Political T-Shirts Election 2012 Bumper Stickers Congressional Campaign Buttons 
These Liberal and Conservative Ratings for the House of Representatives are frequently updated as new bills are introduced, members of the House cosponsor existing bills, and new roll call votes are held. Our most recent update: March 3, 2012. |
Democratic Representative Kathleen Hochul of New York
| Rep. Hochul's Liberal Action Score: 24 The Liberal Action Score is calculated by compiling a series of measured liberal actions (both roll call voting and bill cosponsorship) in the 112th Congress and comparing Kathleen Hochul's behavior against a liberal standard:
Liberal Actions Taken by Congresswoman Hochul during the 112th Congress of 2011-2012:
H.Amdt. 642 While the world spirals into an ever-hotter and more destabilized climate, funding for scientific research into sources of energy other than offending fossil fuels has been cut by Congress for the last two years in a row. As it is, Edward Royce, who introduced an amendment to cut the alternative energy science budget by another $10 million. That $10 million is an extremely small amount in the scale of the federal budget, but can fund important scientific breakthroughs that in the long term save us money and ameliorate climate disasters. In the end, Royce's anti-science amendment was voted down. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting against this bill. H.R. 2021 H.R. 2021, the JEPA Act, is an effort to speed up offshore drilling at the expense of clean air. If passed into law, H.R. 2021 will exempt icebreaking ships in the Arctic from current regulation under the Clean Air Act, allowing their pollution to expand without restraint. 25 members of Congress crossed political party lines in a vote to approve H.R. 2021. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting against this bill. H.R. 2417 H.R. 2417 is entitled Better Use Of Light Bulbs Act but is the opposite of better in three ways. The bill promoted the use of less efficient light bulbs, which by no measure is better use. It was based on a claim that a ban on incandescent light bulbs was imminent, but incandescent light bulbs are not being banned. Finally, H.R. 2417 was rushed onto the floor of the House of Representatives without any hearings or committee review, gutting legislative process as well as energy efficiency. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting against this bill. H.Amdt. 632 In July of 2011, the House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 2018, a bill to exclude corporate polluters from regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency. An amendment by Rep. Jared Polis would have limited the deregulation bill so that corporations with a significant history of illegal pollution practices would still be subject to EPA regulation. Polis' amendment would have allowed the conservative majority to proceed with deregulation while preserving the ability of the government to go after corporate America's biggest illegal polluters. But a conservative majority of 219 Republicans and 12 Democrats voted the Polis amendment down. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting for this bill. H.Amdt. 683 What's wrong with efficiency, the use of fewer resources at less cost to achieve the same ends? 181 Republican members of Congress found something wrong with energy efficiency, something sufficiently disturbing to lead them to vote YES on House Amendment 683. If passed, H.Amdt. 683 would have banned government websites that children about energy efficiency. That wasn't a majority, but it came awfully close. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting against this bill. H.Amdt. 719 On July 25 2011, Representative Kathy Hochul introduced an amendment to Interior appropriations bill H.R. 2584. Hochul's amendment sought to reduce the federal government's burden to spend money on private drilling firms' permit approval processes at a time when it's been found that drilling permits had gone forward without required environmental impact analysis. Hochul’s amendment, if approved, would have required oil drilling companies to pay for the cost of that impact permitting process instead, ensuring that the process was sufficiently funded by those industries that benefit from the process. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting for this bill. H.R. 2273 H.R. 2273, the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, is a bill to block federal regulations for the disposal of coal ash. Lax state regulations would take the place of those federal regulations, exposing Americans to a variety of dangerous pollutants. The danger is real. Just 17 days after the House voted to pass H.R. 2273, a mudslide at WE Energies' Oak Creek Power Plant released a large amount of toxic coal ash containing poisonous heavy metals into Lake Michigan. WE Energies' careless method of coal ash storage would be par for the course if this bill were signed into law. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting against this bill. H.Amdt 935 to H.R. 3408 On February 15 2012, Representative Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania attempted to improve H.R. 3408, a bill forcing the development of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Doyle's amendment would have simply required that at least 75% of the iron and steel used in the portion of the pipeline in the USA be produced in North America, preserving American jobs on an American project. The Canadian part of the pipeline could be made with steel and iron from anywhere, and even in the U.S. portion, 25 percent of the metals could still have come from China, or Pakistan, or anywhere else on Earth. But a majority of the members of the House of Representatives voted the amendment down. Rep. Hochul has taken a liberal course of action by voting for this bill. Liberal Bills Congresswoman Hochul has failed to support through cosponsorship: H.R. 261 Contrary to the predictions of defenders of offshore drilling, expansion of offshore drilling has done little to drive down the price of oil. Since President Obama announced that new deepwater drilling for oil will be allowed, the price of oil has gone up, not down. The cost of a barrel of oil is now nearing 100 dollars. If we want to control the cost of energy, we need diversification of energy sources, not just the same old desperate search for oil. Offshore drilling needs to be phased out, not pumped up. Given the continuing influence of big oil companies over Congress and the White House, is there anything be done to move the USA away from the dangers of offshore drilling? Yes. There are leaders in the House of Representatives who are seeking who are working to reduce the risk created by offshore drilling. H.R. 261 would prohibit new leases for offshore drilling in American waters. Rep. Hochul has failed to cosponsor H.R. 261. After you read the bill, call Rep. Hochul's office at 716-634-2324 and ask her to support it by adding her cosponsorship. H.R. 336 H.R. 336 is a bill that responds to incidents of financial corporations raising interest rates as many as 30 percentage points on credit card users, even when those holding credit cards keep up with their payments and aren't late sending in their checks. If passed into law, the bill would cap annual interest rates for credit cards and other lines of credit in America to 15%, inclusive of fees. Also known as the Interest Rate Reduction Act, this bill would preserve the ability of credit card corporations to make a profit while protecting Americans from usurious financial exploitation. Rep. Hochul has failed to cosponsor H.R. 336. After you read the bill, call Rep. Hochul's office at 716-634-2324 and ask her to support it by adding her cosponsorship. H.R. 492 It's a dirty little secret: oil companies have a special law passed that lets them off the hook for the damage caused by their regular disasters. Thanks to that special law, oil companies aren't liable for environmental and other damages over $75 million caused by their practices. H.R. 492, the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act, would remove that cap in liability for offshore drilling disasters, so that oil companies would pay for the damage they inflict. Rep. Hochul has failed to cosponsor H.R. 492. After you read the bill, call Rep. Hochul's office at 716-634-2324 and ask her to support it by adding her cosponsorship. H.R. 555 There’s no better investment in our society than an investment in the education of a young child. Children who get early schooling do better later on, both educationally and professional, strengthening our nation’s economic productivity. Parents benefit too, able to work more, making contributions of their own to society, and reducing their dependence on social programs. If parents have to pay for preschool that’s as expensive as their income, early education becomes a very difficult choice. H.R. 555, introduced this week by Dennis Kucinich, seeks to fill in that gap by supporting state governments in their efforts to provide universally affordable but not mandatory year-round pre-K school.
H.R. 572 As it is currently written, the Federal Motor Carrier Act does not allow states and municipalities to establish environmental safeguards for ports that are more stringent than the federal standard. H.R. 572, the Clean Ports Act, removes this impediment so communities can add environmental protections for the ports whose cleanliness and integrity they rely upon. Rep. Hochul has failed to cosponsor H.R. 572. After you read the bill, call Rep. Hochul's office at 716-634-2324 and ask her to support it by adding her cosponsorship. H.R. 601 The oil industry is one of the most profitable enterprises on the planet, and yet the same oil industry gets a load of special tax breaks from its friends in government. H.R. 601, the End Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act, cuts nearly $40 billion in subsidies to the oil industry, ending rewards for environmentally dirty practices and restoring some balance to the federal budget. Rep. Hochul has failed to cosponsor H.R. 601. After you read the bill, call Rep. Hochul's office at 716-634-2324 and ask her to support it by adding her cosponsorship. H.R. 1084 Did you know that there is an exemption for hydraulic fracturing written into the Safe Drinking Water Act? The procedure commonly known as "fracking" involves the injection of a variety of toxic chemicals into the ground in order to fracture underground shale and extract natural gas. These toxic chemicals can enter an area's underground drinking water supply or later be dumped as wastewater into America's rivers. H.R. 1084 would require the contents of fracking fluids to be publicly disclosed as needed to protect the public health, just as with other toxic discharges. Rep. Hochul has failed to cosponsor H.R. 1084. After you read the bill, call Rep. Hochul's office at 716-634-2324 and ask her to support it by adding her cosponsorship. H.R. 996 The problem with cluster bombs is threefold: 1. When used, they are distributed in large numbers across terrain; 2. They have a high failure rate, leaving many unexploded bombs; 3. They are small and typically shiny, disproportionately attracting the hands of curious children. Cluster bombs are designed to kill people, not to damage buildings or roads. Like land mines, they continue to kill people long after the battle in which they were used. It is typical for a large number of these smaller bombs to remain undetonated, waiting to explode, after their initial deployment. The Federation of American Scientists' report on the matter makes clear the danger of cluster munitions: "40 percent of the duds on the ground are hazardous and for each encounter with an unexploded submunition there is a 13 percent probability of detonation. Thus, even though an unexploded submunition is run over, kicked, stepped on, or otherwise disturbed, and did not detonate, it is not safe. Handling the unexploded submunition may eventually result in arming and subsequent detonation." Cluster bombs kill civilians when they are used. Our government knows this, and yet our government continues to manufacture, use and sell cluster bombs to foreign countries. The Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act forbids the United States government from spending money to use, sell or transfer cluster bombs unless the following requirements are met:
There is a waiver in the law for the first requirement (for the malfunctioning rate of 1 percent or lower), in cases in which it is "vital" to use cluster bombs in order to protect the security of the United States. However, even in such cases, the President is required to submit a report to Congress which explains how civilians will be protected from the cluster bombs, and revealing the failure rate of the cluster bombs, as well as whether the cluster bombs are equipped with self-destruct functions. Rep. Hochul has failed to cosponsor H.R. 996. After you read the bill, call Rep. Hochul's office at 716-634-2324 and ask her to support it by adding her cosponsorship. H.R. 2665 In 2010 there were 22,000 mercenaries hired by the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan; in 2011 the number of hired mercenaries climbed to more than 28,000. By March 2011, there were more private military contractors paid by the U.S. in Iraq than there were U.S. soldiers. Jan Schakowsky, the sponsor of this bill to end the use of mercenaries for traditional military security and combat roles, explains why this is a problem: "Military officers in the field have said contractors operate like cowboys, using unnecessary and excessive force uncharacteristic of enlisted soldiers. In 2007, guards working for a firm then known as Blackwater were accused of killing 17 Iraqis, damaging the U.S. mission in Iraq and hurting our reputation around the world. Later that year, a contractor employed by DynCorp International allegedly shot and killed an unarmed taxi driver." Military contractors have often acted with disregard for human dignity and when they break the law have frequently used loopholes to escape accountability. The result is inexcusable, violence in the name of the United States with no calls for justice. H.R. 2665 would finally bring this physical, psychological and political disaster to an end.
Rep. Hochul's Conservative Action Score: 12 The Conservative Action Score is calculated by compiling a series of observably conservative roll call votes and bill cosponsorships in the 112th Congress and comparing Kathleen Hochul's behavior against that conservative standard:
H.Con.Res. 51 House Continuing Resolution 51 insists that President Barack Obama comply with two mandates of the American law of war as they apply to current military action in Libya. The War Powers Act of 1973 requires the President of the United States to obtain authorization from Congress before making attacks with the military unless the United States has been attacked first. Even if the United States has been attacked (which it wasn’t in the case of Libya) and the President puts the military into action without consulting Congress, the President must obtain congressional authorization within 60 days' time. President Barack Obama violated the Constitution broadly and the War Powers Act specifically by taking the U.S. military into war against Libya without a congressional declaration and by not obtaining congressional authorization in the 74 days after the fact. In recognition of these circumstances, H.Con.Res. 51 insists that the President must withdraw the U.S. military from action against Libya as the War Powers Act mandates.
H.Amdt. 563 In July of 2011, Rep. Barney Frank introduced an amendment to H.R. 2219 which would have cut the U.S. military budget by $8.5 billion, stipulating that no cuts were to be taken from pay or benefit programs supporting members and veterans of the armed forces. These cuts would have reduced the emphasis of the U.S. budget on weapons programs and also furthered the declared aim of Tea Party and GOP politicians to reduce spending. Yet a majority of Tea Party and GOP politicians blocked the cuts: their support for military spending trumped their aim of fiscal restraint. Rep. Hochul has followed a conservative course by voting against this bill. H.R. 1540 On December 14 2011 House of Representatives voted to let the agents of the President imprison people forever without charge, whether they are citizens or not, whether they are arrested on foreign soil or right here in America. All that the government has to do is accuse this person of being a terrorist and they can be tossed into detention, without charges, forever. They'll never be charged with a crime. They'll never have the right to have the evidence against them judged by a jury of their peers in the constitutionally-guaranteed process of a trial. Constitutional guarantees just don't mean what they used to any more. This is the definition of ultimate and unaccountable government power over its people. This act turns empowered citizens into vulnerablle subjects. This is what those who voted for H.R. 1540 have unleashed. Rep. Hochul has followed a conservative course by voting for this bill. H.Con.Res. 13 On the first of November 2011, the House of Representatives voted to pass H.Con.Res. 13, the full text of which contains the following Congressional affirmations:
Rep. Hochul has followed a conservative course by voting for this bill. H.R. 347 The first amendment to the Constitution declares that the people of the United States have a right to assemble, speak and petition the government for redress of grievance that cannot be abridged. But with the passage of H.R. 347, the Congress has gone ahead and abridged that right anyway. H.R. 347 declares that whoever knowingly engages in protest near a building where the president (or the vice president, or a major presidential candidate, or a visiting world leader) is doing his business is guilty of a federal crime if the protest "impedes" or "disrupts" the flow of government business or official functions. No more demonstrating at presidential appearances. No more demonstrating even near wherever the president is, even if nobody gets hurt, even if no property is damaged, even if nobody trespasses. Raise your voice too loud and bother the president as he goes about his business and you can get tossed in federal prison for a year. The members of Congress who voted for H.R. 347 struck against a blow against freedom of assembly, freedom of protest, and freedom of speech. Rep. Hochul has followed a conservative course by voting for this bill. | Recent legislative news in which Kathleen Hochul plays a part: 21 Democrats Help Tar Oil XL Pipeline And Wildlife Refuge Drilling A few minutes ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R 3408, with the torturously long name of the Protecting Investment in Oil Shale the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy, and Resource Security Act. The legislation is an assault on the environmental integrity of the United States, doing the following: - Approving the XL Pipeline, which is designed to carry oil derived from tar sands in Canada, all the way from Alberta down to refineries in Texas, across the Ogllala Aquifer. - Pushing offshore drilling for oil and gas into even larger areas along America's shores than the recently expanded zones approved by President Barack Obama. No safety regulations have been passed by Congress to try to prevent a repetition of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. - Opening up the... [more] Roll Call of the Vote on the Big Budget Cut Bill If you look on the list of roll call votes taken by the House of Representatives that's maintained by the Library of Congress for a vote on the debt ceiling increase legislation passed by the House this evening, you won't find it. There's nothing with the word "budget" or "cuts" or "spending" or "debt ceiling" to be found there. What you will find is a vote on S. 365, a bill "to make a technical amendment to the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002". That's because, in order to rush legislation to increase the debt ceiling and mandate immense cuts to important programs throughout our country's federal government, without many people having the chance to actually read the bill, Speaker of the House John Boehner had to cut and paste the budget bill into a... [more] Roll Call Of Vote To Put Dangerous Oil Pipeline Through USA In the last month, the American public has been clearly shown the danger posed by oil pipelines. First, a pipeline under the Yellowstone River in Montana burst, sending a huge amount of oil coursing along for hundreds of miles. Then, oil pipelines controlled by BP caused oil spills in Alaska three times in just one week.  Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives responded to these oil pipeline accidents - by passing... [more]
Kathy Hochul Moves To Protect Americans From Drilling Pollution U.S. Representative Kathy Hochul has not been in office for very long, but already she's become one of the more legislatively active members of Congress. Yesterday, for example, Representative Hochul introduced an amendment to H.R. 2584, an appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior.  Hochul's amendment sought to reduce spending on the Bureau of Land Management's drilling permit approval process. Last month, it was revealed that the Bureau of Land Management has broken the law by approving large number of drilling permits on federal... [more]
List of the 163 Democrats Who Spent Time Promoting Theocracy Instead Of Creating Jobs The Democratic Party has promised us that it would do whatever it takes to create jobs and improve the economy. Democrats in Congress said that they would work to get a good jobs bill passed, and not waste time with frivolous matters. That's not what happened this week. This week, the House of Representatives spent the better part of a day debating, and then voting on, a resolution that has no force in law, but declares that "the people of the United States have turned to God". The fact is that the American people are increasingly turning away from belief in God. The American... [more] Which Democrats Support The Save Our Climate Act? Which Democrats Are Slacking Off? If you want economic justice, if you want corporations to be forced to take responsibility, if you want to see strong action to confront climate change, then you should support H.R. 3242, the Save Our Climate Act. The brutal economic fact is this: We are all paying a carbon tax already. Only, it's not called a carbon tax. It's a hidden tax. When residents of Southern states pay huge electric bills running their air conditioners as the temperature soars above 100 degrees for weeks on end, they're paying a carbon tax. When peoples' homes are destroyed in tornadoes and floods, they're paying a carbon tax. When entire neighborhoods are burned to the ground by increasing numbers of wildfires, the people who live there are paying a carbon... [more] |