The Center for Effective Lawmaking at the University of Virginia (UVA) ranked U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., as the most effective Democrat and U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., as the most effective Republican in the Florida U.S. House delegation.
The center released a scorecard of the effectiveness of members of Congress during the last Congress. A member’s Legislative Effectiveness Score (LES) is based on the combination of fifteen metrics regarding the bills sponsored, how far the bills move through the lawmaking process, and how substantial their policy proposals are.
Deutch’s scorecard reflects a number of his legislative achievements, including:
- He had 1 bill signed into law: the Preventing Animal Cruelty & Torture Act, which made animal cruelty a federal offense.
- Deutch’s Seniors Fraud Prevention Act was included in the Stop Seniors Scams Act, which passed the House & Senate in 2020 but wasn’t signed into law.
Including the PACT Act, he had 6 bills pass the House of Representatives:
- The Preventing Crimes Against Veterans Act to protect veterans from scam artists who target them for profit.
- The Promoting Alzheimer’s Awareness to Prevent Elder Abuse Act, which would help assisting professionals best support people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementia. The Senate companion of this legislation was signed into law.
- The United States-Israel Cooperation Enhancement and Regional Security Act, which would expand and enhance the US-Israel relationship, provide justice to victims of Palestinian terror, and again allow security and humanitarian assistance that can save the lives of Israelis and a Palestinians. This bill was included in last year’s NDAA, which was signed into law.
- A bill allowing nonviolent elderly prisoners to serve the remainder of their sentence in a home detention program.
- The Libya Stabilization Act, which strengthens American policy in support of a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the Libyan conflict.
In addition to these bills, he had 3 additional bills pass committee:
- The Keep Americans Safe Act, which would ban high-capacity magazines.
- The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, named in honor of Robert Levinson, which strengthens our government recovery efforts of American hostages abroad. This bill was included in last year’s NDAA, which was signed into law.
- The United States-Jordan Defense Cooperation Extension Act to support our partner Jordan.
Deutch had 3 House resolutions pass the House:
- Supporting the Baha’i minority in Iran
- Supporting the rights of Iranian people
- Condemning the 1994 AMIA attack in Argentina
Bilirakis was ranked as Florida’s most effective Republican in the House, Florida’s second most effective lawmaker in the House behind Deutch, and the 12th most effective Republican lawmaker in the entire Congress.
Bilirakis weighed in on the rating this week.
“My constituents send me to Washington to get things done on their behalf, and that is my primary focus as I work to better our community and the lives of those I serve. Achieving that goal requires ongoing relationship-building with all stakeholders,” said Bilirakis. “While I am never willing to compromise my principles, I do believe in working together to find common ground. I will continue this approach as I work to address the serious challenges facing our nation.”
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was ranked as the most effective Republican in the U.S. Senate.
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