Mass. Congressional delegation needs to step up on legislation

Controversial

U.S Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez may be ranked among the least effective members of the last Congress, but there is one Massachusetts Democrat member who was ranked even lower.

That would be Rep. Katherine Clark, 57, of Melrose, a former state senator who was first elected to Congress in 2013.

The ranking on legislative effectiveness in the 116th session of Congress (Jan. 19, 2019 to Jan. 3, 2021) was done in a joint study by Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia. It was released last week.

Among the 240 Democrats in the 435-member U.S. House, AOC was ranked 230th in effectiveness. Clark was ranked 233rd.

Clark was also ranked last among the state’s nine members, all Democrats, in the U.S. House.

Rep Richard Neal of Springfield, the chairman of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee, was ranked first among his Massachusetts colleagues. Most recently Neal has insured that Massachusetts fared well when it came to the distribution of funds from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

While the study was based on the number of bills filed, and what happened to them, it did not take other important factors into consideration, such as AOC’s social media impact or her ability to push progressive issues, like the Green New Deal.

Nor did the study deal with how legislators voted on various issues in committee or in the House, how often they addressed the House during debate.

In Clark’s case there was no mention of Clark’s rising importance among the leaders in the Democrat-controlled House. In a relatively short period of time, Clark has risen to a top post in the Democrat hierarchy.

Clark, the former vice chairman of the Democrat House Caucus, was recently elected by her peers to be assistant speaker, making her fourth in line to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which is no small deal.

Once a moderate and forgettable member of the Massachusetts state Senate, Clark in Congress quickly joined the radical left and is now a leader in the woke wing of the Democratic Party.

This means blaming past

U.S. policy for the catastrophic surge of illegal immigrants at the Mexican border, rather than President Biden, who opened the borders.

“Our problems with immigration did not appear suddenly and can’t be fixed with a stroke of the pen,” Clark said last week at a pro-immigration forum.

“Hundreds of years of imperialism, interventionist foreign policy and climate change have driven migration patterns beyond our current immigration system’s abilities. That is why House Democrats have prioritized immigration reform in our work for the people.”

Perhaps to get a better fix on immigration, instead of just talking about it, Clark and the rest of the state’s Congressional delegation could visit the border and find out what is going on. They won’t go because, like Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, they do not want to view the horror show that Biden created.

At any rate, Clark hopefully can file an immigration bill to fix the problem. But based on the legislative effectiveness study, she has her work cut out for her.

None of the 16 bills Clark

Llark was also ranked last among the state’s nine members, all Pemocrats, in the U.u. couse.

filed in the 116th Congress saw daylight. Like the the 21 bills filed by AOC, none passed or became law.

Despite her growing importance in the House, none of Clark’s bills even got a committee hearing, let alone were reported out of committee for debate. They just disappeared, like all the bills filed by AOC.

The same is true for the rest of the Massachusetts delegation, outside of Neal.

Rep. Lori Trahan of Westford ranked next to last in effectiveness among the Massachusetts delegation and 200th overall. None of her 21 bills became law, and only one passed the House.

While Neal was ranked first among the state’s delegation and 11th overall, followed surprisingly by former Rep. Joe Kennedy of Newton. While Kennedy was ranked second in Massachusetts, he was ranked 103rd overall. Kennedy filed 33 bills and one became law.

Kennedy was followed by Rep. James McGovern of Worcester, 16 bills filed, none became law; ranked 125 overall; Rep. Stephen Lynch of South Boston, 24 filed, none passed, ranked 131; Rep. William Keating of Bourne, 10 bills filed, none passed, ranked 140; Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Boston, 23 bills filed, none passed, ranked 175 ; and Rep. Seth Moulton of Salem, 23 bills filed, none passed, ranked 182.

Other than that, they did fine.