Americans for Limited Government Monday released the voting records of 91 Blue Dog “moderate” House Democrats on what ALG President Bill Wilson called “some of the most controversial votes of 2009.”

Kansas Congressman Dennis Moore is one of these “Blue Dogs.”

“In vote after vote, the Blue Dogs have been all bark and no bite. Although they had the votes to do so, they have not stopped a single piece of budget-busting legislation in a year that saw the largest budget deficit in American history: $1.4 trillion,” Wilson said.

The ALG analysis included these House votes:

• H. Res. 5 – Rules of the House 
• HR 1 ‐‐ $819 billion “stimulus”
• HR 1 Conf. ‐‐ $789 billion “stimulus”
• HR 1106 – bankruptcy mortgage “cramdowns”
• HR 1388 – national service bill w/ ACORN funding
• HR 1728 – ACORN funding in “Anti‐Predatory Lending Act”
• H. Res . 425 – Vote to Table Flake Resolution Against Murtha Corruption
• HR 2346 ‐‐ $108 billion IMF expansion
• HR 2454 – Waxman‐Markey “Cap‐and‐Tax”
• HR 3962 – $2.1 trillion House “public option”
• HR 2847 ‐‐ $154 billion bankrupt state‐union bailout
• HR 4314 – $290 billion debt limit expansion

As a group on all 12 votes the Blue Dogs voted “no” only 207 times against more spending, while voting 856 times to increase federal spending. [29 votes were "n/a", "NV", or "Present"].

The most “no” votes by Blue Dogs were on HR 2454 and HR 3962 with 36.

No Blue Dog voted against ACORN funding in HR 1388 but 4 voted “no” to ACORN funding in HR 1728.

Moore’s votes helped him in his recent #9 “most valuable Democrat” ranking from FiveThirtyEight.

Moore was one of 17 Blue Dogs always voting “yes” — and never voting “no” — on key spending bills identified by ALG:

• Joe Baca (CA-43)
• Sanford Bishop (GA-2)
• Tim Bishop (NY-1)
• Leonard Boswell (IA-3)
• Dennis Cardoza (CA-18)
• Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
• Bob Etheridge (NC-2)
• John Hall (NY-19)
• Jane Harman (CA-36)
• Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
• Steve Kagen (WI-8)
• Dennis Moore (KS-3)
• Loretta Sanchez (CA-47)
• Adam Schiff (CA-29)
• David Scott (GA-13)
• John Spratt (SC-5)
• Mike Thompson (CA-1)

The Blue Dog Coalition’s web page touts their fiscal priority:

A top priority will be to refocus Congress on balancing the budget and ridding taxpayers of the burden the debt places on them.

A separate Blue Dog page talks about restoring fiscal discipline:

In order to address the issue of long-term fiscal sustainability, the Blue Dogs demanded that the FY ’10 House budget resolution include an iron-clad commitment to statutory pay-as-you-go rules, a deficit neutral reserve fund for health care reform, and funding for program integrity to identify waste and abuse in government spending.

Were any of the Blue Dogs consistently fiscally responsible in their votes?

Only five House Blue Dogs voted “no” 6 or more times in these 12 key votes:

• Bobby Bright (AL-2), 9 “no” votes
• Brad Ellsworth (IN-8), 6 “no” votes
• Parker Griffith* (AL-5), 7 “no” votes
• Walt Minnick (ID-1), 9 “no” votes
• Gene Taylor (MS-4), 6 “no” votes

*Last week Griffith announced he was switching to the Republican Party.

Moore announced last month he would not be running for re-election.

According to ALG’s Wilson:

“While the nation is going bankrupt, House Blue Dogs and ‘moderate’ Democrats pretend that their support for these terrible pieces of legislation is ‘deficit-neutral.’ They have done nothing to stop the madness, which will only bankrupt the Treasury, destroy the dollar, and saddle American taxpayers without a debt that cannot be paid.”

Related

• Voting Records of 90 Blue Dog and Moderate House Democrats, Americans for Limited Government, Dec 28, 2009.  Table.
• Blue Dog expects more centrist Democrats to announce retirement before midterms, The Hill, Dec, 28, 2009.
• Griffith Party Switch Buoys GOP, Leaves Them Looking for More Defectors, Fox News, Dec 24, 2009.
• Blue Dog Bail-Out?, American Thinker, Dec 22, 2009.
• Rep. Tanner’s exit signals more trouble for Dems than Moore’s, The Hill, Dec 3, 2009.
• Blue Dog John Tanner to retire from House, Politico, Dec 1, 2009.