Today’s entry: Hey Brian I enjoyed your interview with Senator Rubio and I have a follow up question for you. He talked about being the 2nd most effective senator and suggested he didn’t get as much credit for his record in the Senate as he deserved. I’d like to hear about it.
Bottom Line: This is actually just one of multiple similar notes I received following my most recent interview with Senator Rubio. It’s not unusual for me to gets follow-ups following interviews, but what was interesting, is that this side of people assessing his assessment of the Dolphins, literally everyone I’ve heard from referred to his commentary about being one of the most effective senators. Could it be that Marco is misunderstood or simply understated? Perception and reality not being on the same page in politics isn’t new, but it was just over two months ago I addressed a different but similar question about whether Rubio was a RINO, or Republican in name only. As I pointed out in that Q&A, Rubio’s FreedomWorks score has been the 9th highest of any Senator since he took office. The implication being that Rubio’s voting record has been more conservative than 91% of US Senators over the past decade. You can decide whether that fits your perception of him or not, but my impression is that his voting record has been more conservative than he’s often given credit for in conservative circles. Could it be he’s also been more effective generally than he’s been perceived to be?
The definition of an “effective” member of Congress can likewise be a matter of perception. But for the purpose of analyzing Rubio’s claim of being the 2nd most effective senator, the analysis is provided by the nonpartisan Congressional watchdog GovTrack. As GovTrack explains regarding their rankings...
A higher or lower number doesn’t necessarily make a legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of legislating and make your own judgements based on what legislative activities you think are important.
Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.
So, what’s measured in this methodology is how effective a Senator is in gaining support in the Senate for the legislation they propose. Since 2019, Senator Rubio has been the 2nd most effective Senator in leading his proposals through the Senate. And he’s only become more effective as time has gone along. He was the fifth most effective in 2017 and fourth in 2018 – leading up to his current distinction as the 2nd most effective. So, Rubio has long been one of the most effective Senators in either party in shepherding his legislation through Congress – but impressively has been more effective with time. Most recently only Democrat Senator Bob Menendez has been more effective. By way of comparison, the Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is 71st and Florida’s junior Senator Rick Scott is most recently tied for 93rd.
So, if you put the FreedomWorks record together with GovTrack’s effectiveness, or what they call a “Leadership” score, you have the 9th most conservative Senator who is the 2nd most effective in accomplishing his agenda (top Republican). Also of note, for Senators which have served ten or more years, GovTrack ranks Rubio as the 2nd most “politically right”, aka conservative, member of the Senate. GovTrack’s data also illustrates how Rubio has achieved a high level of effectiveness. He’s sponsored the most bills of any Senate Republican and he’s the second most effective at securing companion legislation in the House – which is key to legislation having a chance to pass in Congress. That’s the difference between political posturing and spending time in the trenches attempting to achieve legislative outcomes.
So back to perception and reality. Even in Florida you could probably win some bets regarding Rubio being the most effective Republican senator. What’s interesting is that during Rubio’s first term in the senate many suggested he was overrated, often receiving credit or attention he didn’t deserve which helped him fuel a 2016 Presidential campaign – one in which he may have won had Trump not run. Based on what I’ve just shared, you could make the case that he’s been the most overshadowed senator based on his record, during his second term in the Senate.
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