2023 Scorecard Report: Overview

Background on the National Environmental Scorecard

The nonprofit League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has published a National Environmental Scorecard every Congress since 1970, the year it was founded by leaders of the environmental movement following the first Earth Day. LCV believes our earth is worth fighting for because everyone has a right to clean air, water, lands, and a safe, healthy community.

This edition of the National Environmental Scorecard provides objective, factual information about the most important environmental legislation considered and the corresponding voting records of all members of the first session of the 118th Congress. This Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from more than 20 respected environmental, environmental justice, and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which members of Congress should be scored.

LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year that have environmental impacts, including energy, climate change, public health, environmental and racial justice, worker protection, democracy, public lands and wildlife conservation, and spending for environmental programs. The votes included in this Scorecard presented members of Congress with a real choice and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. Except in rare circumstances, the Scorecard excludes consensus action on the environment and issues on which no recorded votes occurred.

Dedicated environmentalists and national leaders volunteer their time to identify and research crucial votes. We extend special thanks to our Board of Directors, Accountability & Endorsements Committee, and Scorecard Advisory Committee for their valuable input.

Overview of the 2023 National Environmental Scorecard

A stark contrast from recent climate progress, as new Republican leaders plunged the House into chaos and manufactured crises.

Following one of the most productive sessions of Congress in history – with passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 the crowning achievement – 2023 was one of the least productive legislative years ever.

Watch the 2023 Scorecard Highlight Reel

With Republicans narrowly in the majority, the House started 2023 in chaos without a speaker for a week in January and again devolved into chaos for weeks in October after, for the first time ever, the speaker was removed because extremists in his own party revolted.

From the very beginning, Speaker Kevin McCarthy revealed his proclivity for appeasing the most extreme Republicans by establishing an unprecedented set of anti-democratic and anti-environment House rules – including allowing petty, personal attacks on federal civil servants’ salaries, and permitting any member to easily bring a motion to vacate the speaker’s office, eventually paving the way for his ouster. Nevertheless, both deposed Speaker McCarthy and his successor, Speaker Mike Johnson, barely moved must-pass legislation through their chamber and wasted time passing fossil fuel industry priorities that the Senate would never consider.

As people around the country suffered through the hottest year on record and other deadly and devastating impacts of the climate crisis, House Republicans focused on ineffectual attempts to gut the historic affordable clean energy plan, which, in just over a year, had created nearly a quarter million new jobs. In all, the anti-environment Republican House leadership held at least 31 recorded votes to eliminate clean energy incentives that will help tackle climate change and accelerate our country’s transition to a clean energy economy. House Republicans reserved their signature bill, H.R. 1, for a sweeping package of bills that contained huge giveaways to polluters and would lock the U.S. into new fossil fuel production and infrastructure.

Extreme House Republicans also refused to work with the Senate on full year government funding, nearly causing catastrophic default on our country’s debts and federal government shutdowns. Unfortunately, the agreement to raise the debt ceiling and avert global financial crisis included anti-environmental riders – industry gained more influence over the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the bill also forced approval of the methane gas Mountain Valley Pipeline. We scored a Senate amendment that would have blocked this damaging pipeline from being approved – not only will it affect our water, climate, and environmental justice communities, it sets a dangerous precedent for Congress to override federal and state authorities for a single project. The deals also undermined efforts to crack down on rich tax cheats that would pay for some of the affordable clean energy plan’s incentives.

Bucking recent trends, both the House and Senate saw floor consideration of some fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills along with many amendments. Each chamber passed at least four appropriations bills, yet none of them were conferenced or signed into law. And the bills could not be more different, with the House approving draconian cuts below agreed upon funding levels and volumes of extreme policy riders while the Senate reached widespread bipartisan agreement on funding levels and no new poison pill policy riders.

The House took hundreds of votes on messaging bills and amendments at the behest of their most extreme members and MAGA base – 15 of the 36 House votes in this Scorecard were messaging amendments offered to government funding bills. Though many of the culture war, racist, and most unpopular environmental attacks failed because they were so extreme, and some of their underlying appropriations bills also failed to advance, many anti-environment riders and crippling program cuts were packed into the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill (H.R. 4821), which we scored along with three other egregiously anti-environment appropriations bills.

In contrast to the House, the Senate remained in Democratic control and saw no leadership drama, keeping a brisk pace of approving 69 lifetime federal judge nominations and adding to the federal bench a qualified, historic group of people diverse in their personal and professional backgrounds and experiences. In particular, Judges Nancy Abudu and Dale Ho are two top voting rights experts, and Judge Rachel Bloomekatz has deep public interest and environmental litigation experience. We are confident all of them will ensure our laws are faithfully and equitably implemented. Now in its third year, the Biden-Harris administration had fewer executive nominations on the docket, but two are included in the 16 total Senate votes.

Republicans in both chambers forced votes on multiple Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions of disapproval, an extreme and blunt tool that can strip away current protections and permanently block future protections for our environment, communities, workers, wildlife, and natural heritage. We scored CRAs that sought to block the Biden-Harris administration’s progress protecting communities from dirty trucks, endangered species on the edge of survival, and retirement savings from climate risks. Fortunately, these attempts to roll back beneficial rules failed.

The Farm Bill, which is usually a bipartisan priority, was another victim of Republican extremism and lack of productivity. Republicans tried to raid climate smart agriculture, conservation, and clean energy funding appropriated by the affordable clean energy plan, but Democrats were united against this. Congress extended expiring programs’ authorizations through the end of 2024.