Most Texas members of Congress fail to defend our environment and our families’ health

Environment Texas

AUSTIN —  Today, Environment Texas released its federal scorecard evaluating how the Lone Star State congressional delegation has voted when it comes to supporting clean air, clean water and other environmental protections. Executive Director Luke Metzger released the following statement:

“The country is terribly polarized these days on all sorts of issues, including the need to protect our environment. It shouldn’t be this way and it didn’t used to be. Unfortunately the Texas delegation is no exception.

“Members of the Lone Star State’s congressional delegation voted to support environmental protections only 28% of the time on average. Our scorecard evaluates the state’s 2 U.S. senators and 36 U.S. representatives on 32 key environmental votes.

“On average, all members of the U.S. Senate supported the environment on only 48% of all key votes, while on average, all members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted for the environment only 45% of the time.

“Many Texas members of Congress helped bring those averages down. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz both scored 0% in our survey of key environmental votes, as did 17 of the state’s representatives.

“On the bright side, we in Texas can be proud that 3 representatives voted to support the environment 100% of the time — Congressmen Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, Lloyd Doggett of Austin, and Beto O’Rourke of El Paso. Representatives Al Green, Eddie Bernice Johnson and Sheila Jackson Lee — all from Houston — scored above 90%, as did Marc Veasey of Fort Worth. Congressmen Gene Green of Houston and Filemon Vela from the Rio Grande Valley both scored above 80%.

“It’s also good news that we had a few members who were willing to part with their Republican colleagues to protect the environment.  For example, Representatives Louie Gohmert of Tyler, Kevin Brady of The Woodlands, Michael McCaul of Austin, Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Mac Thornberry of Clarendon, and Will Hurd of Helotes voted against eliminating funding for Amtrak.”

“When taken altogether, the Texas delegation is a disappointment when it comes to standing up for the environment. We hope that all of our state’s members of Congress start to show the strong and effective leadership that’s needed to protect the environmental values that so many Texans share.”