CPAC Honors Conservative Members of House, Senate for Work in 2024

WASHINGTON — CPAC honored members of the House and Senate this week for their commitment to conservative principles in policies dealing with everything from energy and state’s rights to cutting funding for unnecessary or duplicative federal programs.
The CPAC Foundation is the nation’s oldest conservative grassroots organization. It held its 54th annual Ratings of Congress Award Ceremony on Tuesday at the Capitol Hill Club on 1st Street SE.
The event came just hours after President Donald Trump visited Capitol Hill to make a last-minute, and ultimately successful, push for the passage of legislation — known as the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” — that would extend his 2017 tax cuts and advance many of the conservative policies that are shaping his second term.
Many members stopped at the ratings ceremony for their award before voting on the bill later that night.
“This ceremony isn’t just a celebration — it’s a line in the sand,” CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp declared at the start of the festivities.
The ceremony recognized House members and Senators who received the foundation’s Conservative Excellence Award (90% and above) and Conservative Achievement Award (80–89%), based on a scorecard developed by CPAC’s Center for Legislative Analysis.
The scorecard evaluated how members voted during the 2024 legislative session when a number of votes centered on such contentious issues as the funding of foreign wars, immigration and abortion.
Organizers said the ratings event encourages members in their “commitment to upholding conservative values and to motivate Democrats and more moderate Republicans to greater accountability.”
The average Republican score in the Senate was 73% while Democrats averaged just 6%, with many scoring below the average. The average House Republican score was 78%, with 64 members scoring 90% or above, while House Democrats averaged just 2%.
“We appreciate CPAC, the organization has stood for us for so many years,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said as he picked up his latest Conservative Achievement Award.
“These awards handed out are something that is highly coveted on Capitol Hill, and I’ve got a nice collection of them now, and I’m proud to display them,” Johnson said.
But the award ceremony wasn’t intended to just be a backward-looking event at past accomplishments. According to CPAC, one of its goals in bestowing its recognition is to encourage members to continue to vote according to conservative values in the future.
Asked what he believes is the biggest accomplishment of the second Trump administration to date, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said, “Securing the border.”
“That is the key issue [President Trump] ran on. We all know what Joe Biden did when he made three decisions on day one: no more building the wall, no more ‘remain in Mexico,’ no more detention, and being released after being apprehended,” he said.
The latest edition of the Senate CPAC Scorecard assessed 30 votes from the 2024 legislative session.
Not surprisingly, the findings revealed a stark ideological divide in the chamber, with Republican Senators earning an average conservative rating of 73%, compared to 79% in 2023, (16 Senators scoring 90% or above), with Democrats averaging just 6%.
Several senators, including new Vice President JD Vance, garnered perfect scores.
The full CPAC scorecard can be found here.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and on X @DanMcCue
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