You elected Sherrod Brown to legislate. Is he ever.
October 26, 2009
Source: Plain Dealer
By Stephen Koff
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Is it our imagination, or is Sherrod Brown introducing bills at a manic pace? His flury of introductions led us to several places (including Thomas.gov and OpenCongress.org) to run the numbers, and we can officially decree:
Brown, an Ohio Democrat, is the most active freshman U.S. senator of 2009.
He has introduced 42 bills so far this year, proposing to do everything from expand pediatric training to eliminate a waiting period for disability insurance. Brown especially wants to expand government health care programs and strengthen food and product safety. (His critics say that means expanding government, period.)
That's not counting another 22 amendments he has sought for others' bills.
Ohio's other senator, Republican George Voinovich, has introduced 14 bills and 10 additional amendments.
If you only counted the bills, ignored the amendments and included all senators regardless of how long they've served, Brown would be in an eighth-place tie with Barbara Boxer of California; Carl Levin of Michigan; Robert Menendez of New Jersey; Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.
In first, second and third place, respectively, are Dianne Feinstein of California, Charles Schumer of New York, and David Vitter of Louisiana. (A caveat: Ignore the rankings you see on OpenCongress.org. They're outdated.)
This being the first year of President Barack Obama's administration, Congress has a big but tough agenda. It is arguably too soon to declare any lawmaker's efforts a success or failure, even if Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress. But it's not too soon to ask why Brown is pushing so many bills.
His staff says the bills grew out of the meetings he has held with residents and business owners in each of Ohio's 88 counties. "Many of the legislative pieces that he introduces are a direct result of what he hears in the round-tables," says spokeswoman Meghan Dubyak.
At this pace, he could have one heck of a record by the time he seeks a second term in 2012. By then, it'll be clear whether all this legislating yielded results.
