Colorado Dem Joe Neguse ranked 2nd in US House for number of bills signed into law last Congress

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse finished in second place on a report released this week ranking House members by how many of their bills were signed into law in the last Congress — a feat even more remarkable because the Lafayette Democrat, serving just his third term, was in the minority in the Republican-controlled chamber.

According to GovTrack.US, an independent legislative tracking service, Neguse sponsored eight bills that made it to Joe Biden’s desk and got the president’s signature in the 118th Congress, in session from 2023-2024, finishing just behind Nebraska Republican Don Bacon, who wrote nine bills that became law.

Two years ago, Neguse topped the ranking for most bills enacted in the previous, 117th Congress, which ran from 2021-2022, with 13 laws to his name. In that roundup, he was followed by Bacon, who was credited with 11.

In the report covering the most recently concluded Congress, GovTrack also listed Neguse in the top spot among House members in two categories — working with the other chamber and writing bipartisan bills. The former measures how many bills a legislator introduced in tandem with a companion bill in the other chamber, and the latter counts the number of bills introduced with a cosponsor from across the aisle.

Additionally, Neguse ranked third among all House members for the number of bills introduced in the last Congress, with 108. That total fell behind Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s representative in the House, who introduced 128 bills, and Arizona Republican Andy Biggs, who submitted a whopping 612 pieces of legislation over the two-year period.

The 40-year-old Neguse, who was elected late last year by his fellow House Democrats as assistant minority leader, the party’s No. 4 leadership position, easily won reelection in November in the 2nd Congressional District, a heavily Democratic seat covering 12 counties in Northwest Colorado, anchored by Boulder and Larimer counties.

A son of Eritrean immigrants, Neguse is a former University of Colorado regent and ran Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies before winning election to Congress in 2018.

Different from previous rankings — like in the 117th Congress, when U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat, tied for third-place for the most bills signed into law — the other members of Colorado’s delegation landed further back in the pack in the 118th Congress, which was marked by GOP infighting in the House and became known as the least productive Congress in decades.

GovTrack cautions that its rankings don’t necessarily mean a lawmaker is better or worse at their job than other members of Congress, noting that senators and representatives have a variety of duties that aren’t reflected in GovTrack’s data.

What’s more, the website’s report cards and rankings miss some legislative achievements, since the site only counts one primary sponsor for each bill, even when several lawmakers collaborate to produce a measure, as often happens. While the service also credits lawmakers when their bills are mostly incorporated into larger pieces of legislation, the automated process sometimes misses occurrences if the text changes too much, a staffer told Colorado Politics.

In a statement to Colorado Politics, Neguse credited the communities in the 2nd District — “from the Western Slope to the Wyoming border” — with inspiring his legislative accomplishments.

“We listen to each other,” Neguse said. “We respectfully exchange views. And we know when it’s time to roll up our sleeves and work together to find solutions that will benefit our people, our cities, our state, and our nation.”

Added Neguse: “I’m deeply proud that in adopting this mindset in the last Congress, our office was able to accomplish many legislative goals from the last two years — collaborating with lawmakers from across the political spectrum and advancing locally driven initiatives.”

Among the bills Neguse sponsored that became law in the last Congress were the Drought Preparedness Act, the Disaster assistance Deadlines Alignment Act, the Military Families Mental Health Services Act, the Federal Data Center Enhancement Act, the Stop the Spread of Invasive Mussels Act and the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act.