In the News

For a freshmen in the U.S. Senate, Louisiana’s John Kennedy has fared quite well. So says a new academic ranking by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, which on Thursday (Feb. 28) released its findings for the 115th Congress.

Kennedy was the 19th most “effective” Republican senator, out of 54, in the 2017-18 Congress - and one of the two most effective GOP freshmen senators. Bill Cassidy, R-La., also a first-term senator but with two years’ seniority on Kennedy, ranked 23rd of 54 Republicans.

Among Louisiana members of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson of Benton fared the best. He ranked 79th of 244 Republicans.

The least effective Louisianian in the House? That was Rep. Steve Scaliseof Jefferson, whom the Center for Effective Lawmaking put at 209th of 244 Republicans.

To be sure, Scalise missed more than three months of work in 2017 after being shot and gravely wounded that summer. And as House majority whip during the 115th Congress, Scalise’s supporters say, his fingerprints - if not his name - were on many pieces of legislation important to Louisiana, two examples being extension of the National Flood Insurance Program and increased funding for coastal work in the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act.

The Center for Effective Lawmaking is a joint project of Alan Wiseman, a Vanderbilt University political science professor, and Craig Volden, professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia. The center says its scores are based on “15 metrics that take into account the number of bills a legislator sponsors, how far each of those bills advances through the legislative process from introduction to (possibly) becoming law and its relative substantive significance.”