“She introduced a lot of bills, but she was not successful at having them receive any sort of action in committee or beyond committee and if they can’t get through committee they cannot pass the House,” Alan Wiseman, a Vanderbilt political scientist and co-director of the center, told The Post.
https://nypost.com/2021/04/03/aoc-was-one-of-least-effective-members-of-congress-study/
She’s the queen of Twitter — but less successful at lawmaking.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the least effective members of the last Congress according to a new survey from the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking — a joint project of Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia.
AOC introduced a total of 21 bills which the center defined as “substantive” — but that is where the story ends. Her legislation received no action in committees, no floor votes, and none ever became law, according to the center, which takes its data from Congress.gov.
“She introduced a lot of bills, but she was not successful at having them receive any sort of action in committee or beyond committee and if they can’t get through committee they cannot pass the House,” Alan Wiseman, a Vanderbilt political scientist and co-director of the center, told The Post.
“It’s clear that she was trying to get her legislative agenda moving and engage with the lawmaking process,” Wiseman added “But she wasn’t as successful as some other members were — even among [other] freshmen — at getting people to pay attention to her legislation.”
When looking at the legislative effectiveness of all congressional Democrats, AOC was ranked 230th out of 240 Democrats. Among the 19 Dem lawmakers from New York state, she ranked dead last.
Rep. Ilhan Omar
Rep. Ilhan Omar fared better than AOC in the study.
Carol Guzy/ZUMA
Among the bills that failed were a federal overhaul of public housing, a ban on fracking, and a mandate to provide full federal public benefits to illegal aliens.
Democratic House insiders said many of Ocasio-Cortez’s colleagues found her approach alienating.
“Tweeting is easy, governing is hard. You need to have friends. You need to understand the committee process, you need to be willing to make sacrifices,” said one. “Her first day in Congress … she decided to protest outside of Nancy Pelosi’s office.”
A second Democratic insider who worked with her in the New York delegation added that “legislation was never her focus. It was media and narrative.”
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Across the aisle, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Brooklyn/Staten Island), told The Post, “Her ludicrous policy ideas would destroy our country — Americans should be thankful she’s not effective.” As a current freshman Malliotakis does not appear on the list.
Reps for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to request for comment from The Post.
Fellow Democratic Socialist “Squad” members fared better than AOC. Rep. Ilhan Omar sponsored 33 bills that also went nowhere, earning her 214th place, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib saw three of her substantive bills advance into committee — with one ultimately becoming law. She ranked 92nd.
Things weren’t much better over in the Senate where Kirsten Gillibrand clocked in at 39 of 45 — with none of the substantive bills she proposed becoming law. Chuck Schumer landed at 33 — though Wiseman stressed that pols in leadership positions often fared poorly as their jobs required them to assist other members with their initiatives.
