Peters Again Rated #1 Most Effective U.S. Senator

WASHINGTON, DC – The non-partisan Center for Effective Lawmaking released its biannual ratings on effectiveness based on enacting and advancing legislation, and U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) was again ranked at the top of the list (#1) for the 117th Congress (2021-2022). In that timeframe, Peters — Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — passed 19 standalone bills into law, the most enacted into law by a U.S. Senator during a single Congress in more than 40 years, according to the Congressional Research Service and Senate Historical Office. He was also named the most effective Senator in the Technology and Government Operations policy areas this year for his work making government more efficient and saving taxpayer dollars. Peters was also recognized as the most effective U.S. Senator by the Center for Effective Lawmaking for the 116th Congress (2019-2020).

“Working hard to get things done for Michiganders is my top priority in the Senate,” said Senator Peters. “I’ll continue to work across the aisle to make progress on the issues that are important to our state, from protecting the Great Lakes and combating PFAS contamination to expanding manufacturing and workforce training to strengthening our national security.”

“At the top of the list is Sen. Gary Peters, who in the 116th Congress had the rare distinction of being the overall most effective lawmaker in the Senate, despite Democrats being the minority party. As we noted previously, with the exception of the 107th Senate (2001-02), in which Senate control shifted partway through the term from Republican to Democratic when Senator Jim Jeffords switched parties, Sen. Peters’s feat cannot be found anywhere else in the Center for Effective Lawmaking data, which stretch back to the early 1970s,” wrote the Center for Effective Lawmaking.

“That he has emerged as the most effective lawmaker in the entire Senate once again demonstrates that his success in the 116th Congress was not a one-time aberration,” the Center continued.

Highlighting Peters’ strong record of bipartisanship, the Center wrote: “Consistent with his past practice, Sen. Peters had at least one Republican cosponsor on each of his successful bills, with the exception of a bill that renamed a post office in Michigan (which was co-sponsored with his fellow Michigan Democratic Senator, Debbie Stabenow). Moreover, it was often the case that more Republicans than Democrats signed onto his bills as cosponsors.”

In addition to having 19 standalone bills signed into law, the Center for Effective Lawmaking noted that “…substantial portions of the language of another ten bills that Sen. Peters introduced were ultimately inserted into other legislators’ bills that became law, including the Cyber Response and Recovery Act of 2021, the Promoting Service in Transportation Act, the Motorcyclist Advisory Council Act of 2021, and the Furthering Advanced and Inclusive Research for Crash Tests Act, all of which were ultimately incorporated into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which became law in November 2021.”

To read the full report from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, click here.

The Center for Effective Lawmaking is a joint initiative between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, which rates each member of Congress based on a number of factors including the bills they sponsor, how far those bills move through the lawmaking process and how substantial their bills are.

Peters has consistently been named among the most effective and bipartisan Senators in the chamber. In addition to being named the most effective U.S. Senator for two consecutive Congresses, the non-partisan Lugar Center announced he was the 5^th-most bipartisan Senator for his work in 2021.

Peters’ 19 bills signed into law last Congress include legislation that will: strengthen cybersecurity, address PFAS contamination, improve federal disaster response, bolster national security, make the federal government more efficient and save taxpayers’ money and protect access to federal resources for Michigan communities. For a full list of Peters’ standalone bills from the 117^th Congress signed into law, click here.

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