December 18, 2012 3:05PM # How Rep. Tim Scott Voted on Program Terminations By [Tad DeHaven](https://www.cato.org/people/tad-dehaven) --- SHARE South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has announced that Rep. Tim Scott (R‑SC) will replace the departing Jim DeMint in the Senate. Scott is a member of the 2010 “Tea Party Class” of Republican freshmen and is considered a solid fiscal conservative. So let’s take a quick look at how he voted this year on opportunities to terminate federal agencies and programs. The good: Scott voted to terminate the Economic Development Administration, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia, Essential Air Service program, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy subsidies, Fossil Energy subsidies, the Department of Energy’s Title 17 guaranteed loan program, and the Community Development Block Grant program. He also voted against the [lamentable continuing resolution](https://www.cato.org/blog/how-gop-freshmen-voted-continuing-resolution) in September. The bad: Scott voted to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, a [notorious example of corporate welfare](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/export-import-bank). He also voted against terminating [nuclear energy subsidies](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/hooked-subsidies), which a lot of Republicans have an unfounded soft spot for. Overall, that’s a good record and considerably better than the average freshman’s voting record. The votes against the EDA and CDBG program in particular indicate that Scott has an appreciation for [fiscal federalism](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/fiscal-federalism). Perhaps that will be a cause that Scott can join Sen. Rand Paul (R‑KY) and (hopefully) others in championing. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).