Dismally.
The Conservative Review tracks votes of politicians and gives them a grade relative to their votes on issues important to conservatives. These are a few of the votes listed for Congresswoman Noem.
2015 Votes
$1.1 Trillion Budget Busting Spending Bill Vote Result Date: 12/18/2015
Conservative Position: No Noem Vote: Yes
This 2,009 page omnibus bill contained a whopping $1.1 trillion for funding the entire government for the remainder of fiscal year 2016, or $547 million per page. Taken in totality, this bill gave away the final opportunity for Republicans to wield the power of the purse over a number of lawless or harmful executive policies for the rest of the Obama administration. The tactics and processes used by Speaker Ryan to advance this bill were identical to ones used by Speaker Boehner, and ultimately resulted in the GOP Congress losing all leverage over an out of control executive branch. As the omnibus fully funded Obama’s amnesty programs and even added close to $300 million in funding for economic and cultural development in some of the very Latin American countries violating our sovereignty. While the bill contained no positive immigration riders to prevent Obama from bringing in Syrian refugees and other security risks, it contained a harmful provision quadrupling the H2-b visa program for next year, further burdening American workers and taxpayers with more low skilled workers from impoverished countries. In addition, this bill stripped out every rider halting Obama’s environmental agenda. Finally it increased spending by $53 billion relative to the previous year.
1,300 Page $305 billion Highway Bailout Bill Vote Result Date: 12/3/2015
Conservative Position: No Noem Vote: Yes
This 1,300 page bill was introduced, “debated”, and voted on within 72 hours, making it virtually impossible that any member of Congress actually read it. It is accurate to assume that Congress is blindly spending $305 billion with little knowledge of its implications. Additionally this bill bails out the Highway Trust Fund to the tune of $70 billion. While the Republican controlled Congress makes the argument the bill is paid for, that is a fraudulent claim as the payfors are budget gimmicks designed to hide the true cost of the bill. Besides continuing Congress’ reckless spending spree, the bill also renews the once shuttered crony capitalist Export Import Bank.
Expand Federal Involvement in Education Vote Result Date: 12/3/2015
Conservative Position: No Noem Vote: Yes
This vote was to reauthorize No Child Left Behind through 2020. No Child Left Behind represented an unprecedented expansion by the federal government into education. Overall this reauthorization legislation is a missed opportunity for a Republican controlled congress to empower parents and put children first. Education is an issue that is near and dear to families and represents and opportunity for Republicans to lay down a bold contrast of family first policies. Conservatives believe education decisions should be made by state and local officials, yet this bill retains the fundamental mandate requiring states to concoct uniform standards in reading and math that would be applied statewide throughout all jurisdictions. The bill keeps the plethora of federal testing requirements that have been the driving force behind the adoption of Common Core. Likewise, it does nothing to address the duplicate and wasteful programs funded by the Department of Education, but in reality actually expands education control into preschool programs. Instead of renewing the 2001 law with minor changes, conservatives should be implementing sweeping reforms that allow states to drive innovation in their own school districts.
Fund Planned Parenthood and Obama’s Priorities Vote Result Date: 9/30/2015
Conservative Position: No Noem Vote: Yes
Republicans gained control of both chambers of Congress last fall with the premise of stopping Obama by using their Constitutional right of the power of the purse to defund key parts of Obama’s agenda. Over the 2015 summer an undercover group released numerous videos depicting Planned Parenthood engaging in the sale and harvest of organs of aborted babies. Conservatives responded with calls to halt federal funds to private organizations like Planned Parenthood that engage in this behavior. Additionally conservatives called on Congress to with hold funding for President Obama’s disastrous Iran deal, which puts America and her allies at risk, and to continue efforts to defund Obama’s executive amnesty. This vote was on final passage of spending bill that fully funds Obama’s priorities, including abortion, until December 11, 2015. Between now and December 11th, Planned Parenthood is estimated to commit 70,000 abortions. Preceding this vote, Republicans engaged in a series of show votes to give the appearance of fighting against public funding of abortion, however this vote was a critical vote in the House to cut off those federal funds. From a spending and budget perspective this spending bill maintains the excessive burn rate of taxpayer dollars and lacks any spending reforms.
Obamatrade — Fast Track Authority for TPP Vote Result Date: 6/18/2015
Conservative Position: No Noem Vote: Yes
This vote was on the key procedural provision known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). TPA grants a special fast-track status to trade deals negotiated by the president and as such has been dubbed Obamatrade. While conservatives generally support trade agreements as important tools for lowering tariffs and trade barriers, and TPA is often needed in order to effectively negotiate with other countries, this particular TPA was problematic for a number of reasons. Typically, a TPA is passed at the beginning of negotiation cycles so that Congress directs the president to negotiate along specific parameters. In this case, the three primary treaties that would receive fast-track status under this TPA have already been negotiated in secret for years. There is no reason to pass fast track authority without releasing more details about these trade agreements to the public. Moreover, given this president’s penchant for implementing major policies without Congress, there was a widespread fear that Obama would use these trade agreements to pursue liberal policies, such as changes to our immigration system, labor laws, and global warming regulations. For example, according to WikiLeaks, one of the impending trade deals – the Trade in Service Agreement (TISA) – contains an entire immigration section, including a provision prohibiting US authorities from conducting in-person interviews for certain visa categories. Additionally, the main trade deal – the Trans Pacific Partnership – contains a “living agreement” provision, which could enable Obama to expand the scope of the agreement during the final months of his presidency or add countries like China to the agreement. Finally, GOP Leadership negotiated a deal to advance Trade Promotion Authority and in exchange for Democrat votes, promised to renew the crony capitalist Export-Import Bank and a failed government handout program known as Trade Adjustment Assistance, a subsidy bailout for labor unions.
$500 Billion Healthcare Bill Vote Result Date: 3/26/2015
Conservative Position: No Noem Vote: Yes
This vote was on H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act which is expected to increase the nation’s debt by $500 billion over the next 20 years. This bill was cobbled together in a backroom deal by Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi. Overall H.R. 2 is a massive health care spending bill that replaces the existing Medicare payment system for health care providers, known as the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), with a new bureaucratic pay scheme that would automatically increase reimbursements every year. Although everyone agrees that the SGR was a flawed system, this bill merely replaced one top-down bureaucratic price-control system with a new one, albeit with a more generous reimbursement rate. With this bill Congress failed to address the underlying problems in healthcare entitlements and in true back room deal fashion, included several extraneous provisions designed to buy votes. Kill Funding for Obama’s Executive Amnesty Vote Result Date: 3/3/2015 Conservative Position: Yes Noem Vote: No While considering HR 240, the FY 2015 Department of Homeland Security funding bill, in the Senate, newly elected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) worked with Democrats and liberal Republicans to re-instate funding for Obama’s executive amnesty. This vote is on whether or not to kill the bill that contains funding for Obama’s executive amnesty. If this motion would have passed it would have stopped Obama’s executive amnesty from being funded.
Remove John Boehner from Speaker of the House Vote Result Date: 1/6/2015
Conservative Position: Yes Noem Vote: No
This vote was to determine who serves as the Speaker of the House for the 114th Congress. The Speaker has dominant influence and sets the agenda for what bills and votes are allowed on the floor. After Speaker Boehner partnered with President Obama to whip votes for the $1.1 trillion Cromnibus bill funding Obama’s illegal executive amnesty, conservatives saw that act as the last straw. Because the Speaker is determined by absolute majority of the potential 435 voting representatives, only 29 Republican votes for a candidate other than Boehner were needed to force a second ballot. Forcing a second ballot would have effectively removed John Boehner from Speaker. The conservative position was to vote for anyone besides Boehner or a Democrat. Those listed as YES attempted to remove Speaker Boehner and replace him with another Republican. Those listed as NO voted for Speaker Boehner, a Democrat, or present. Boehner received enough votes to be re-elected Speaker of the House.
Conservatives WANT to support Noem. The question is, “How many disappointing votes will it take to lose remaining conservatives?”
To be fair, Noem voted with conservatives on some issues. Enough to give her a current rating of a whopping 42%.
It isn’t what Conservatives expected from her.
Follow the voting records of Senator Mike Rounds (31%) and Senator John Thune (48%).
***Gordon Howie is an author and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***
“It’s not about right or left, it’s about Right or Wrong.”
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It is a shame that our once conservative State, has progressively moved to the left. Many politicians, follow the Party leaders and when they say jump, the Politicians shout “How High” I’m not happy with the Republicans or the democrats – so what does that leave us? Hopefully, eventually, people will wake up and realize that our politicians have no backbone to do the right thing and that is follow the Constitution. It, in my opinion, is time for a third party. When we vote for the D’s or R’s it tells them they are doing okay. Jump ship people and as their voting percentage drops, they’ll either wake up and change or people who are constitutionally correct will be elected. Do what is right let the consequence follow