Two Republican congressmen from Georgia have received "Taxpayer Super Hero" recognition from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, based on votes against wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending.

Rep. Paul Broun of Athens and Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Newnan both scored 100 percent in 2009. They were among only seven House members with perfect scores. It was the second year in a row that Broun won the "Super Hero" award.

"Taxpayer Hero" awards went to two Georgia congressmen, Rep. Tom Price of Roswell and retiring Rep. John Linder of Lawrenceville, both scoring 99 percent, and former Rep. Nathan Deal of Gainesville, the brand new GOP gubernatorial nominee, scoring 94.

Members with a score of 80 percent or higher earned "Taxpayer Hero" rating from the anti-waste organization, which annually checks votes of congress members to see which ones are "protecting the interests of taxpayers and which are squandering their hard-earned dollars."

Not making "Hero" rank was Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) with a 76 percent score. But he did better than Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah), who scored 74 percent. Otherwise, it was not a pretty picture for Georgia's Democratic members of Congress.

Scoring zero were Democrats Rep. David Scott of Atlanta (representing part of Cobb), Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta and Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany. Other Democrats and their scores: Rep. Hank Johnson of Lithonia, 2 percent, Rep. John Barrow of Savannah, 4 percent, and Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon, 14 percent.

Georgia's U.S. senators scored high marks. Sen. Johnny Isakson had 96 percent and Sen. Saxby Chambliss 95 percent.

Isakson said he had agreed with the anti-waste group "that we must take large and immediate steps to stop out-of-control federal spending." In a statement he added: "As a businessman, I more than recognize that the way the government is operating is not only unsustainable, it is a recipe for disaster and failure."

The common sense senator from Cobb reiterated that he backs legislation to put brakes on federal spending and require greater accountability from programs funded by taxpayers.

Back in 2006, keeping a campaign pledge, he signed on as a sponsor of the proposed Stop Over-Spending Act, which called for a constitutional amendment allowing a president to use the line-item veto to cut or reduce appropriations in any bill passed by Congress - and force Congress to balance the its budget, the same as Georgia has to do. Isakson is a sponsor of the proposal to do that, but of course, in the kind of Congress we've had in recent years, it's gone nowhere.

Isakson has also introduced legislation to reform the federal budgeting process by changing to a two-year budget instead of one year - appropriating money one year and working exclusively on mandatory oversight of federal programs the next year.

"We have a serious, difficult problem in our country," Isakson said. "One of the keys to stopping the growth of debt and improving the plight of our country is to begin spending within our means."

What a revolutionary idea!

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