This week, the Lugar Center and Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy announced they ranked Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) as Iowa’s most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives for her work during the 116th Congress.
Rep. Axne also ranked in the top 50 most bipartisan House members, according to their analysis, for her legislative work in 2019 and 2020.
“In my first term, I strove to find commonsense legislative solutions that would support Iowa’s families, businesses, and communities – and that meant working across the aisle both in Iowa and with my colleagues from across the country on bills to tackle the range of issues facing my constituents,” said Rep. Axne. “Whether it’s fighting for lower health care costs, more support for our entrepreneurs and students, or getting investments back to Iowa’s rural communities, I’m proud to have earned this recognition for my work in my first term – and look forward to continuing these efforts in the months and years to come.”
The Lugar/McCourt Bipartisan Index measures how often a member of Congress introduces bills that attract co-sponsors from the other party, and how often they in turn co-sponsor a bill introduced from across the aisle.
It is based on a formula that considers both the absolute numbers of bipartisan bills sponsored and co-sponsored and the percentage of such bills in a member’s portfolio. It also includes a metric that gives members credit for the number of bipartisan co-sponsors on their sponsored bills.
“Although partisan combat between the parties and their leaderships reached a crescendo during the 116th Congress, individual members of Congress worked on legislation with their opposing party counterparts with surprising frequency,” said Lugar Center Policy Director, Dan Diller. “The Bipartisan Index scores show that despite the embittered partisan climate, members still sought out bipartisan partnerships in the run-up to the 2020 election — usually below the radar of the national news cycle.”
Last year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recognized Rep. Axne as the most bipartisan member of Iowa’s Congressional delegation, awarding her their Spirit of Enterprise award for her bipartisan legislative work promoting business and commonsense governing over the past year.
In her first term, Rep. Axne was also named the ‘Most Accessible Freshman Member of Congress’ by the Town Hall Project and a finalist for the Congressional Management Foundation’s Democracy Award in the Transparency and Accountability category.
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