News

Press Release

February 26th, 2025

Contact: Liz Deering, 612-910-4868

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

League of Conservation Voters Releases National Scorecard for Minnesota’s Delegation

Minneapolis, MN —Today, Conservation Minnesota Voter Center released the Minnesota delegation’s scores for the League of Conservation Voters’ 2024 National Environmental Scorecard, highlighting that some members of Congress chose to champion the environment, while others failed to do so. Since 1970, LCV’s Scorecard has been the primary yardstick for evaluating the environmental records of members of Congress. It is available for download at scorecard.lcv.org.

The 2024 Scorecard shows that some of our state’s delegation supported attacks on environmental protections. For the second year in a row, extreme members in the House of Representatives embraced chaos. They pushed messaging bills and radical amendments on government funding that were so harmful their own leadership pulled them on more than one occasion—resulting in the least productive Congress in recent history.

Despite intentional gridlock caused by some members of the House, Senators Smith and Klobuchar continued to confirm strong, well-qualified federal judges, confirming more than any other president and Senate in a recent four-year period.

“Minnesota should be proud of leaders Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar, Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, and Ilhan Omar who stand up against big polluters and attacks on our environment—and have the scores to show for it,” said Conservation Minnesota Voter Center’s Executive Director Paul Austin. “Despite the new administration trying to ban clean energy, raising energy costs for everyday people, we know these congresspeople are working daily to protect our future by ensuring clear air to breathe and clean water to drink. We know the stakes are high. In Minnesota, we still have to protect and defend our recent progress on clean energy and safe drinking water.”

For the third year, the 2024 Scorecard highlights the leadership of the Tri-Caucus. Leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) scored an average of 97% on the 2024 Scorecard. These champions in Congress led and supported many of the climate, conservation, environmental justice, and equitable democracy bills and initiatives in 2024, in addition to helping to educate constituents and connect communities to the transformational investments within the affordable clean energy plan.

This year, the 2024 Scorecard includes eight Senate votes, half of which were confirmations of qualified, diverse judges and other nominees, and half were attacks on environmental protections. In the House, LCV scored 33 votes, 14 of which were poison pill policy amendments on government funding bills or the extreme underlying bills themselves, two of which were using or further weaponizing the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block environmental safeguards, and the rest undermined programs and laws that advance a safe climate, environment, and democracy.

The full delegation’s scores for 2024 are:

Senator Amy Klobuchar: 100%

Senator Tina Smith: 100%

Representative Brad Finstad: 0%

Representative Angie Craig: 94%

Representative Dean Phillips: 73%

Representative Betty McCollum: 100%

Representative Ilhan Omar: 100%

Representative Tom Emmer: 0%

Representative Michelle Fishbach: 3%

Representative Pete Stauber: 3%

LCV has published a National Environmental Scorecard every Congress since 1970. The Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from more than 20 respected environmental 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, including energy, climate change, environmental justice, public health, public lands and wildlife conservation, democracy, and spending for environmental programs. The votes included in the Scorecard presented members of Congress with a real choice and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. More information on individual votes and the Scorecard archive can be found at scorecard.lcv.org.

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