Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is probably President Bush's 12th most favorite senator. On the other end of the spectrum, Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, probably is Bush's 373rd most preferred out of 435 House members.
A new study by Congressional Quarterly shows how often members of Congress voted in 1989 to support Bush on issues where he announced a stand - and also showed how often they missed votes, how often they voted along party lines and how often they supported the "conservative coalition."Garn voted to support Bush 89 percent of the time, 12th highest among the 100 senators. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, supported Bush 82 percent of the time, 28th best in the Senate.
On the House side, Owens was one of Bush's strongest adversaries. He supported Bush only 30 percent of the time, ranking him 373rd out of 435.
Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, was Bush's 15th strongest House supporter, voting for his positions 82 percent of the time. Rep. Howard Nielson, R-Utah, supported Bush 76 percent of the time, 65th strongest in the House.
The average congressional support of Bush in 1989 was 63 percent - the lowest for a first-year elected president since such studies began in 1953. Still that was much higher than the 47.4 percent support Reagan had during his last year in office. In 1988, Garn was the second strongest Senate supporter of Reagan, backing him 85 percent of the time. He supported Bush more often than that, but other Senators supported Bush even more strongly. Hatch also backed Reagan 82 percent in 1988 - which then was good enough to make him Reagan's sixth strongest Senate ally.
The new study also shows that members of Utah's delegation often vote along party lines, and that all but Owens usually vote with the "conservative coalition" of Republicans and southern Democrats when it appears to oppose initiatives by northern Democrats.
Utah congressmen missed few votes. Hatch voted 99 percent of the time; Nielson, 97 percent; Garn and Hansen, 96 percent; and Owens, 90 percent.
But other congressmen voted even more often. In fact, Garn's 96 percent score allowed him to finish only 90th out of 100 in the Senate. Owens' 90 percent made him finish 395th out of 435 in the House.
Hatch voted with the conservative coalition 97 percent of the time (second highest in the Senate); Garn, 95 percent (seventh highest in the Senate); Hansen, 98 percent; (13th highest in the House); Nielson, 95 percent; and Owens, only 20 percent.
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(Additional information)
1989 tally
The 1989 voting record of Utah's congressmen:
Votes supporting
Bush stands:
Garn 89 percent
Hatch 82 percent
Hansen 82 percent
Nielson 76 percent
Owens 30 percent
Voting participation record
Garn 96 percent
Hatch 99 percent
Hansen 96 percent
Nielson 97 percent
Owens 90 percent
Party-line votes
Garn 97 percent
Hatch 85 percent
Hansen 93 percent
Nielson 84 percent
Owens 96 percent
Votes supporting
"conservative
coalition"
Garn 95 percent
Hatch 97 percent
Hansen 98 percent
Nielson 95 percent
Owens 20 percent