WASHINGTON – Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick were the most bipartisan members of Congress last year, according to a newly released analysis by the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.
The least bipartisan House legislator was Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, and Republican freshman Katie Britt of Alabama finished last among senators.
Latest classification most bipartisan lawmakers come during one of the least productive Congresses in the nation’s history and just months before nearly all House and about a third of the Senate lawmakers meet at the ballot box in November.
Maria Cancian, dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy, wrote in a statement announcing the new rankings that “while there is much room for improvement, I am pleased to see some progress in bipartisan cooperation.”
“In these deeply divided times, and with the growing amount of misleading information online, we need tools like the Bipartisan Index more than ever – an evidence-based and unbiased approach to measuring how well policymakers at all levels are working to get things done.” Cancian wrote.
Lugar Center policy director Dan Diller wrote that it was “particularly depressing that all eight new senators who took office in January 2023 ranked in the bottom 30 percent of the Senate.”
“Bipartisan cooperation on legislation in 2023 was insufficient by historical standards, although there was a slight improvement in the performance of the previous Congress,” Diller wrote.
The rankings website says that “The Bipartisan Index is designed to fill a gap in publicly available information about the performance of Members of Congress.”
The Lugar Center, founded by the overdue U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, “is a platform for informed debate and analysis of global issues, including the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, global food security, the effectiveness of foreign aid and global development, energy security, and strengthening bipartisan governance.” governments,” according to its website.
The rankings take into account “the frequency with which a member of Congress sponsors bills that are co-sponsored by at least one member of the opposing party” and “the frequency with which a member of Congress sponsors bills introduced by members of the opposing party.”
According to ranking systemthis is the fifth consecutive year that Fitzpatrick has led the House as the most bipartisan member, making him the only House member to ever rank first on the Bipartisan Index in multiple Congresses.
In 2021, Fitzpatrick joined the Democrats as the only Republican member of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation eligible to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The following year, Fitzpatrick joined the Democrats vote for the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which aims to address gun violence. He was again the only member of the state GOP delegation to support the legislation.
This year, Fitzpatrick was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers which introduced a measure to fund U.S. border security and military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
On Tuesday, Everytown For Gun Safety endorsed Fitzpatrick in his re-election bid over Democrat Ashley Ehasz. He was also honored by gun safety groups as a Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America candidate.
Heritage Action for America, a conservative organization, gave Fitzpatrick 42% for his voting record this session and 34% for his lifetime. The average House Republican is at 72%.
Who is the most bipartisan?
The top ten senators included:
- Collins
- Michigan Democrat Gary Peters
- New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan
- West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin
- Texas Republican John Cornyn
- Nevada Democrat Jacky Rosen
- Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski
- Kansas Republican Jerry Moran
- Indiana Republican Todd Young
- Montana Democrat Jon Tester
The top 10 House lawmakers are:
- Fitzpatrick
- New York Republican Marcus Mill
- New Hampshire Democrat Chris Pappas
- New York Republican Mike Lawler
- North Carolina Democrat Don Davis
- Republican Party Delegate from Puerto Rico Jenniffer Gonzalez-Columbus
- Nevada Democrat Susie Lee
- Nebraska Republican Don Bacon
- New Jersey Democrat Josh Gottheimer
- Iowa Republican Zach Nunn
The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University write on their website that their “purpose in publishing this Index is not to promote a specific legislative agenda, as many indexes do, but only to promote a bipartisan approach to governance.”
“The credibility of the Index comes from the objectivity of its methodology; “Index results are calculated in a formal way based on publicly available data,” it states. “The index does not require a subjective assessment of specific legislative items.”
The least bipartisan House lawmakers after Jordan were New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Missouri Democrat Cori Bush, New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman and Missouri Republican Eric Burlison.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, finished 423rd but will likely be excluded from future results because he has held one of the top two leadership positions for at least six months.
The least bipartisan senators after Britt were Missouri Republican Eric Schmitt, Washington State Democrat Patty Murray, Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson and Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton.
Sean Ross, a spokesman for Britt, said in a statement that the ranking was “absurd.”
“Senator Britt has co-sponsored 68 Democratic-sponsored legislation, as well as dozens of bipartisan pieces of legislation led by Republican sponsors,” Ross wrote. “The bipartisan efforts he helps lead cover a wide range of important topics for the people of Alabama, including maternal mortality research and maternal care; youth mental health and social media use; fentanyl crisis; affordable access to insulin; affordable rural housing; telehealth services; agriculture; domestic manufacturing and supply chains; fair trade; Workforce development; wildlife conservation; supporting law enforcement; and consumer protection.”
Pennsylvania Capital-Star reporter John Cole contributed to this report.
