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A study by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Legislation, a joint project of Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia, claims that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most ineffective Congress members in the United States.
Legislative effectiveness scores, says the official Vanderbilt University website, are published every two years after the conclusion of each Congress. The CEL identifies the 10 most effective legislators in the Democratic and Republican parties in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced a total of 21 bills that the center defined as “substantive,” but that’s where the story ends. Her legislation received no action in committees. Moreover, they were not voted on and none became law.
Ocasio-Cortez in perspective
The center takes data from Congress.gov, the study evaluates the effectiveness of all members of Congress. In doing so with those in the Democratic Party, Ocasio-Cortez, who belongs to the most left-leaning and radical wing of the party, ranks 230th out of 240 members. And she is last among legislators of the same party who represent her state – New York.
“She introduced a lot of bills, but failed to get them to receive any kind of action in committee or out of committee, and if they can’t get through committee, they can’t get it passed in the House,” Alan Wiseman, co-director of CEL and a political analyst at Vanderbilt (Tenn.) University, which did the study with the University of Virginia, told the New York Post.
The nonpartisan Center for Effective Legislation emphasizes that its role with the study is to push for a Congress composed of effective legislators, strong institutional capacity and the incentive structure needed to address America’s greatest public policy challenges.
