2007 began as a year of great promise. Congress was flooded with dozens of new Members, many elected with a pledge to address the middle-class squeeze and help more working people attain a middle-class standard of living. Important legislation—from expanding children’s health coverage to bringing down the cost of college loans—was introduced and came to a vote. But, faced with Senate filibusters and a recalcitrant President, many bills died or were passed in watered-down form. Still, the bills that did become law represent concrete gains for current and aspiring middle-class Americans, including a higher minimum wage, expanded Pell Grants, a freeze on a middle-class tax hike and more efficient cars that will result in lower costs at the pump.

Unfortunately, the growing consequences of years of anti-middle-class policies—from lax regulation of mortgage lending to weak oversight of dangerous consumer goods and tax cuts that starved the public purse—threatened to overwhelm these gains. In 2007, middle-class families discovered that the shelves of their local shopping centers held pet foods that could kill their dogs and cats and lead-painted toys that could leave their children with permanent brain damage. The mortgage crisis threatened millions with the loss of their homes. At year’s end, the housing market began to collapse and drag the U.S. economy down with it. Congress responded slowly and half-heartedly to these new crises with weak bills that ultimately failed to address the scope of the problems.

Throughout the year, Members of Congress struggled to navigate the tug-of-war between special interests and their middle-class constituents. Many of the year’s disappointments involved the passage of ineffectual legislation or good bills that fell short of being enacted. But in one case—a trade deal with Peru—legislation that benefits multinational corporations and large investors at the expense of middle-class Americans sailed through Congress to become law.

The Best News: Increased Pell Grants, Lower Student Loan Rates, a Higher Minimum Wage. A college education is one of the best routes to a middle-class standard of living—as well as one of the highest costs middle-class families face. This year, Congress acted to make college more affordable by expanding eligibility for and increasing the value of Pell Grants for low-income students and reducing interest rates for all students receiving federally subsidized student loans. In addition, low-income workers aspiring to a middle-class standard of living got a much-needed boost as Congress increased the minimum wage for the first time in a decade.

More Good News: A Freeze on Middle-Class Taxes and an Energy Bill that Helps the
Planet. This scorecard analyzes two bills that would have made a significant positive impact on the American middle-class had they passed in their original form. Even the weakened versions that were ultimately signed into law still represent an advance for the middle class. The energy bill will still save middle-class consumers money at the fuel pump and help prevent global warming, though measures to establish a national standard for renewable electricity and to repeal tax breaks for oil companies were stripped out. Similarly, a one-year freeze to prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax from hitting middle-class families will help these households in the short term although it also increases the deficit; a provision to offset the revenue loss by closing tax loopholes exploited by hedge fund managers was cut from the version that passed.

The Bad News: Failures on Expanding Children’s Health Coverage, Enabling Employees to
Join Unions, Medicare Prescription Drugs, and Educating Immigrant Youth. Vetoes and filibusters choked off some of Congress’ most promising initiatives for the middle class. President Bush vetoed legislation to expand health coverage for low- and middle-income children twice in 2007 and Congress was unable to override the vetoes. A bill to make it easier for employees to bargain for middle-class wages and benefits by joining unions had majority support but was killed by a Senate filibuster. Legislation to reduce the taxpayer cost of the Medicare prescription drug benefit was also killed by a Senate filibuster. So was the bill to provide a path to citizenship for college-bound students who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children.

The Worst News of All: Another Trade Deal that Hurts the Middle Class. The trade agreement with Peru included some reforms meant to reduce the legislation’s negative impact on the middle class: for example, Peru agreed to follow labor rights principles and abide by environmental agreements. But this tinkering was not enough to redeem a deal which, like NAFTA and CAFTA before it, creates incentives to move U.S. jobs overseas and puts downward pressure on the wages of American workers who are placed in more direct competition with poorly paid Peruvians. No filibusters or vetoes excuse this legislation: Congress simply passed a bill that hurts the middle class.

In Other News: Immigration Reform Remains Stalled, Estate Taxes Not Repealed. 12 million undocumented immigrants support the U.S. economy, yet face so much exploitation in the workplace that they threaten to drive down American wages. While some Members of Congress recognized that a path to legal status would help not only immigrant workers, but also the American middle class, they failed to reach agreement on immigration reform. For some legislation, however, it’s just as well that nothing moved ahead: the perennial effort to bestow a tax windfall on the wealthiest one percent of Americans by abolishing the estate tax also failed this year.

TheMiddleClass.org 2007 Congressional Scorecard issues each Member of Congress, as well as the House and Senate as a whole, and each party a letter grade based on his or her votes on selected pieces of legislation in 2007. We selected bills that, if passed, would have an impact on the squeezed middle class as well as on the aspirations of low-income Americans striving towards a middle-class standard of living. For a complete list of bills that count toward legislators' 2007 grades, click here.

We hope TheMiddleClass.org 2007 Congressional Scorecard will be a useful tool to hold Congress accountable and to inform those concerned about the American middle class about key pieces of legislation. While many organizations issue scorecards based on a single issue, the Drum Major Institute is distinctive in its focus on an overall agenda of expanding opportunity for middle-class and aspiring middle-class Americans.

We believe better policy can be created when ordinary citizens—not just political insiders—know how their legislators voted on the issues that matter most to them and when legislators know their constituents are watching.

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