A group of lawmakers has begun meeting to plan next steps for related actions and brainstorm what Democrats can advance through legislation or administrative action. The effort is led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and includes other Democratic-led legislators: Senators Debbie Stabenow (Michigan), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota) and Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), according to a Democratic Senate adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the internal discussions. “What we`ve told members is that we know it`s very popular in all areas to make sure the too wealthy and corporations pay their fair share of taxes,” a House Democratic strategist familiar with DCCC planning told HuffPost. “The investments we will make in access to health and child care, education and infrastructure are also popular. We should spread the good news of what we can bring to the country. This means that, on average, more laws were signed when Congress and the president were in opposition. When the two chambers shared the president`s party, there were almost as many. But what if a majority in one chamber shared the president`s party and the other did not? Many, far fewer laws have been passed. 3) News & Blogs It`s tricky, but can be helpful. On OpenCongress, you can see which bills get the most attention in the media and on blogs.

Well, it`s true that we can talk a lot about bills, even if Congress doesn`t really consider them, but with the parameters mentioned above, it can be useful. For example, H.R. 1207 to increase Federal Reserve transparency doesn`t have many measures, but it does have an impressive list of co-sponsors and a lot of buzz on blogs. That means there is a popular energy around this bill that, combined with the list of co-sponsors, suggests that there may be a movement. It is sometimes difficult to know what is a viable bill that could be studied and what is a bill that will simply die in committee. Here are some metrics you can use to make a guess: But despite historic cross-party polarization, some lawmakers have managed to break the deadlock. Using data from Find the Best, we examined a handful of members of Congress who managed to get bills past the purgatory of “sent to committee.” The efficiency percentage of each MP was calculated by dividing the number of Private Member-sponsored bills passed outside committee by the total number of bills they sponsored. This is not really fair, of course, since the 113th Congress has only been in office for six months, a quarter of the time of other congresses. Even if Congress passes four times as many bills, that only brings 60 bills — still far from the least.

The Huffington Post article focused on another aspect of the 113th Congress: how it has been compared to other conventions since the beginning of the year. And the answer is: bad. Only the 97th and 104th Congresses were close in terms of pace, but the 113th is still significantly lower in terms of laws signed. That`s partly because Congress has been slow to introduce new bills. Votes on even stricter abortion rights guarantees are also being considered, several Democrats said — such as measures that guarantee access to abortion in cases of rape or incest, or in cases where the mother`s health is at risk. But many have said they are reluctant to move in that direction before the Supreme Court makes its final decision, and some have privately acknowledged that holding “show votes” on narrower bills could actually benefit Republicans by allowing some senators to distance themselves from the more conservative elements of the GOP. Every once in a while, we get an email from someone who is concerned about an obscure bill they found on OpenCongress that they believe poses a direct threat to their freedoms and freedoms. Common examples include H.R.45, a bill to establish a national firearms licensing system, and H.J.Res.5, a bill to lift presidential term limits. They cite these laws as evidence that Congress is trying to take away their guns, or that Congress is trying to make Obama the king for life. The vast majority of bills are essentially dead on arrival. At each biennial session of Congress, ten thousand or more bills are introduced.

But only about 4% of them become law. Take away bills that do things like naming post offices and designating the days of the year as a memorial holiday, and it`s probably more like one percent. 2) Measures Bills are the subject of dozens of actions before becoming law. If the only measures you see for a bill are referrals to committees, for example on H.R. 45 is a sign that this is probably going nowhere. But if you see other types of measures, such as directing the subcommittee to the whole committee through a vote, scheduled hearings or committee review and markup session, then the bill starts to move and has a chance to become law. With this in mind, the current and recent congress looks a little better. The percentage of bills that become law is decreasing, but the difference compared to other congresses is slightly smaller.

“I can`t tell you now how differently we should emphasize the danger this poses to other rights based on the right to privacy,” Sen said.