Massachusetts Congressional Delegation Has Below-Average Effectiveness Among Democrats
By Tom Joyce | April 9, 2021, 18:26 EDT
Are members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation effective in doing their jobs?
At least one person is, but generally speaking, they are below-average at it, according to the Center for Effective Lawmaking’s analysis.
The center took a look at the effectiveness of every member of the 116th Congress and ranked them by effectiveness.
The organization separated the members by party and by which chamber of Congress they are in. The reason why the organization split the rankings up by party is that they don’t see it as a fair comparison to have members of the majority party and minority party together since the majority party’s lawmakers tend to have higher effectiveness scores.
However, among Democrats, nine out of the 11 Massachusetts members of Congress (nine representatives and two senators) were below average.
Attempts to reach press spokesmen for the 11 members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation from the 116th Congress on Friday were not successful.
As for the rankings, here’s a look at how they fared.
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Representative Richard Neal (D-Springfield) (11th out of 240 Democrats)
Neal is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is among the most powerful in Congress. The Center for Effective Lawmaking notes that Neal had seven bills receive “action beyond committee” last year, three of which passed the U.S. House of Representatives, and one that became law.
U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-Newton) (103rd out of 240 Democrats)
Kennedy was the only other Massachusetts Democrat to be above-average in these rankings. Kennedy proposed 33 substantive bills, and of them, two receive action beyond committee, and one became law.
Kennedy is no longer a member of Congress because he unsuccessfully sought his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate against U.S. Senator Ed Markey in 2020.
U.S. Representative James McGovern (D-Worcester) (125th out of 240 Democrats)
Although his ranking is slightly below-average, McGovern’s is as close to the middle as any Massachusetts Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He sponsored a pair of commemorative bills (meaning a bill that does not substantively affect public policy) that went nowhere, but of his 16 substantive bills, three passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, none of them became law.
U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) (131st out of 240 Democrats)
The veteran congressman sponsored plenty of bills — one commemorative one and 24 substantive bills. Of the substantive bills, four received action beyond committee and two passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, none of them became law.
U.S. Representative Bill Keating (D-Bourne) (140th out of 240 Democrats)
Keating, too, was on the below-average side, in part because he sponsored just 10 bills and none became law. However, four of his 10 bills received action beyond committee and two passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Dorchester) (175th out of 240 Democrats)
Pressley put forth ideas during her first term in the U.S. House of Representatives, but none translated to enacted laws. She had one bill pass in the U.S. House, but only two of her 23 proposed bills received action beyond committee.
U.S. Representative Seth Moulton (D-Salem) (182th of 240 Democrats)
Although in 2019 Moulton wanted to be president of the United States (before his quixotic campaign withered and died), his track record in the last congressional session was well below-average. He sponsored 23 bills, none of which passed through the U.S. House of Representatives. Only one of his bills received action beyond committee.
U.S. Representative Lori Trahan (D-Westford) (200th of 240 Democrats)
Trahan is one of two Massachusetts House Democrats who had a ranking in the 200s. She proposed 21 substantive bills — and while one of them passed the House, it was her only one that received any action in committee or beyond committee.
U.S. Representative Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) (233rd out of 240 Democrats)
Clark, who is a member of House leadership, was the least effective member of the Massachusetts House delegation, according to these rankings.
She proposed 16 substantive bills, none of which received any action in committee or action beyond committee.
U.S. Senate
U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-Malden) (25th out of 45 Democrats)
Markey was a slightly below-average Democrat in terms of effectiveness. He proposed 134 bills in the session. Among them, 131 were substantive and three were commemorative. Working in a Republican-controlled Senate, one of Markey’s substantive bills passed in the chamber, as did one of his commemorative bills. However, neither became law and just three of his bills received action beyond committee.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) (27th out of 45 Democrats)
Warren spent plenty of time running for president in the Democratic primary, but she earned a below-average mark when it came to her job in the U.S. Senate. She got one bill enacted into law by President Donald Trump. It was the only one of the 89 bills that she proposed that passed in the U.S. Senate or received any action beyond committee.
