Political scientists tracked the progress of bills during the 118th Congress – rating lawmakers on 15 metrics, including the importance of a particular measure. Professor Craig Volden says the public may think Congress gets nothing done, but – in fact – the last congressional session was about as productive as previous ones.
“You know we were hearing about how gridlocked Congress was, how under divided government we wouldn’t expect much to get done," he recalls. "We found the exact same folks near the tops of our lists as before. They had to work a little differently and perhaps a little harder, but they were still able to pass hundreds of bills into law on all sorts of different issues.”
One key is working across the aisle – quietly finding points of compromise. Unfortunately, he says, the next congressional session has fewer skilled dealmakers.
“Many high performing lawmakers either have not returned to the 119th congress or we know, based on their own announcements, will be departing following the conclusion of the 118th congress.”
Volden says a score of one is considered average, and looking at Virginia’s congressional delegation, the top grade of 2.3 went to Republican Jennifer Kiggans, followed by former Representative Bob Good. Democrat Jennifer Wexton and Senator Tim Kaine got a grade of 1.2, and Mark Warner scored .8. The Center for Effective Lawmaking made a list of freshmen who had exceeded expectations. Kiggans ranked fifth, and on a list of the longest streak for exceeding expectations, Democrat Gerry Connolly was number four.
