Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District, ranked th. Ranking is based on how often lawmakers co-sponsor legislation from those in a different party and their bills attract co-sponsors from across the aisle. Collins, who has served in the U.
Senate since , also ranks as the second-most bipartisan senator over a year period, behind only Lincoln Chafee, a Republican who represented Rhode Island in Washington from to Only six other Republican senators voted to convict Trump.
Many of them faced public rebukes and censures from their home state parties. The Maine Republican Party overwhelmingly voted against censuring Collins despite the outcry from rank-and-file conservatives over her conviction vote.
Skip to content. Watch more:. More articles from the BDN. Your browser is outdated. Upgrade to a modern browser to better experience this site. Your browser has turned off or is blocking Javascript. Here's a look at the top 10 most bipartisan members in the th Congress based on the portion of total bills they've cosponsored with an opposite party sponsor: Rep. Every member of Congress has such bills.
Nor do we believe that all bipartisan bills are wisely written and considered. However, a consistently low score on this index will be a very strong indication that a legislator is viewing his or her duties through a partisan lens. Conversely, a consistently high score is a strong indication that a legislator is prioritizing problem solving and open to working with the other party when possible. What we are measuring in this Index is not so much the quality of legislation but rather the efforts of legislators to broaden the appeal of their sponsored legislation, to entertain a wider range of ideas, and to prioritize governance over posturing.
With this in mind, we regard any score above zero as a good score. But we also offer special commendation to those members who score in the very top ranks. If a member is disappointed in his or her score, there is a straightforward way to improve it in future congresses: Put more effort into recruiting bipartisan co-sponsors for your bills and consider co-sponsoring bills introduced by the opposite party. We hope members will do that and we regard the Bipartisan Index as a way of providing encouragement.
Our focus with the Bipartisan Index is not just on individual members. We also are looking at how Congress as a whole is performing. We hear often from commentators who claim that we are experiencing an extraordinarily partisan era. Regrettably, our analysis bears this out to a large extent.
You can see by the charts that the last three Congresses have yielded very low scores on the Bipartisan Index. The th and th Congresses had the two lowest scores among the eleven Congresses that we have analyzed so far. Bills are being written not to maximize their chances of passage, but to serve as legislative talking points. Taking a position is not the same thing as governing.
For Congress to be successful, the parties must work together at the beginning of the legislative process. The Founders of our Republic were realists who understood the power of factionalism, parochialism, and personal ambition.
They understood that good intentions would not always prevail. Accordingly, they designed a system to check abuse and prevent power from accumulating in a few hands. But they knew that the efficient operation of such a Republic would require a great deal of cooperation. They knew that it would require most elected officials to have a dedication to governance, and they trusted that leaders would arise in every era to make their vision work.
In this spirit, we encourage members of Congress to more frequently open themselves to the possibility that colleagues from the opposite party may have good ideas that are deserving of consideration.
Senators who are independent but caucus with a party for purposes of determining which party is in the majority are counted as a member of that party.
Zinke, R-MT. Follow Donate Search. Our Work PDF. Study shows that Future Caucus members and others under 45 years old are leaders in reaching across the aisle on legislation. What do new Bipartisan Index rankings say about the Ohio delegation? Senior Fellow at The Lugar Center discusses. Sandy Fitzgerald Newsmax.
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