Which Politicians We Should Pay Attention to Right Now
"Folks come to Washington to do one of two things, " Senator Mitch McConnell said from the Senate floor one December day. "To make a point. Or to make a difference."
The politicians who're in Congress to make a point might be making the finest points since points have ever pointed. And they might get oodles of press coverage for those points. But these politicians aren't making much difference (another way of saying difference is bills that actually become the laws we live under). So these point-making politicians aren't worth much of our time.
It's the politicians who are there to make a difference that we want to train our eyes on. These workhorses have a seat at the negotiating table, they have the trust of their colleagues, they have their fingerprints on the bills that become the laws we'll live under.
So how can we tell who is who? Here are three good clues a legislator is in DC (or the statehouse for that matter) to make a difference.
They don't live in the headlines
I can think of a few Members of Congress who have an uncanny way of making headlines or finding their way into other people's headlines.
The folks I'm interested in have their heads down and are too busy trading offers between negotiating parties to talk to reporters 18 hours/day.
Note: This indicator doesn't apply to leadership - i.e. the House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, etc. They are a key voice for their party and are expected to face the press regularly.
They get bills passed
Last Congress, 19,315 bills were introduced and only 3% of them became law. It is diabolically hard to get bills passed. Folks who are in legislatures to make a difference don't often introduce tons and tons of bills. They are laser focused on getting a few bills across the finish line.
I worked for a Congressman who introduced six bills one session, got one signed by the President and another moved through Committee - when his party was in the minority, no less. Comparatively, one of his colleagues introduced 21 bills and none of them got so much as a hearing in Committee.
Here's a handy website to find out how many bills your Senators/House Member is getting across the finish line.
They work across the aisle
Of the itty bitty number of bills that passed last Congress, the majority were bipartisan. Margins are slim right now: there are 53 Republicans to 47 Democrats in the Senate. Over in the House, the numbers are anticipated to shift to 217 Republicans to 215 Democrats. For bills to pass, especially in the House, there will likely need to be some measure of support from the minority party.
As former Senator Tom Carper said, "Bipartisan solutions are lasting solutions." When both Dems and Republicans have skin in the game on a bill, it ratchets down the likelihood that it will be dismantled.
So if a politician who checks these three boxes drops a bill, I'd pay attention. But if a politician who doesn't check these three boxes drops a bill, there's a good chance they just want attention.