On October 16, Food Policy Action released its 2014 National Food Policy Scorecard.  The National Food Policy Scorecard, launched in 2012, rates members of Congress based on their positions on food and farm policy votes.  The purpose of the scorecard is to highlight the importance of food policy, educate voters, and bring transparency and accountability to the national food policy discussion.

Food Policy Action is a political non-profit organization created in 2012 that aims to promote policies that advance certain good food priorities, including supporting healthy diets, improving access to food, reducing hunger, upholding workers’ rights, improving public health, reducing the risk of foodborne illness, supporting local and regional food systems, and reducing the environmental impact of food production.

An advisory council of food policy experts is responsible for choosing which votes are relevant and should be scored, and the Food Policy Council Board of Directors approves those choices.  Board members include, among others, Rev. David Beckman (Bread for the World), John Boyd (National Black Farmer Association), Ken Cook (Environmental Working Group), Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm), and Robin Schepper (Bipartisan Policy Center).

In the scorecard released this week, Senators were graded on a combination of six votes and support of eight bills (including the Farm Bill), and House members were graded on 18 votes and support of twelve bills related to hunger, food aid, labeling, farm subsidies and sustainable farming.  71 members of Congress received perfect scores while 35 members had scores of zero.  As compared to 2012, 136 members’ scores improved and 275 members’ score decreased in 2014.

Information about the votes and how each legislator scored are available on Food Policy Action’s website.

Information about your representative can be found on the All Politicians page.