In divided Congress, Long Island delegation passes few bills but shows unusual degree of bipartisanship

WASHINGTON — As this two-year Congress reaches its midway point, Long Island’s U.S. House members have introduced more than six dozen bills on topics ranging from reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program to protecting access to in vitro fertilization to renaming post offices.

But just five of the nearly 80 non-ceremonial bills or resolutions introduced since January by the two Republicans and two Democrats as their own have passed the House. And none so far have become law — or even obtained Senate approval — according to legislative tracking databases.

In a system that's bitterly polarized, where Republicans now control both chambers, analysts say it's hard for individual lawmakers to develop consequential legislation to address complicated problems. It's also a world where good ideas can be grabbed or embedded into someone else's bills.

"Sad to say, lawmaking — solving problems in a pragmatic, realistic way — isn't high on the list of legislators' priorities," Donald Nieman, a history professor at Binghamton University, said. "Nor does (passing bills) affect most voters' assessment of their ostensible representatives."

Not to suggest that lawmaking credit is the only way to gauge a lawmaker's influence. Developing special policy expertise, or holding positions such as a committee or subcommittee chair, are things that also correlate with higher sway. Even so, analysts say there still can be a lot to learn about a lawmaker’s individual effectiveness within Congress by closer inspection of the actual legislation they try to pass. 

Four of the Long Islander bills passed by the House belong to Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), while Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) sponsored the other. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) was able to get both the House and Senate to pass a resolution, but one that was literally more ceremonial than consequential, because it only called for allowing the use of space in the U.S. Capitol complex for a medal ceremony.

These combined Long Island delegation bill-passage numbers, before delving into the substance, may seem low. But they really are not. Many House members, including freshman Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), have not passed any bills out of the chamber this session.

In fact, of the nearly 7,000 bills and resolutions introduced and sponsored by all 435 members of the House since January, only about 40 have passed both chambers and been sent to the president. Of the nearly 460 measures that have passed in the House, fewer than 50 have been approved by the Senate.

Final numbers from the last two-year session in 2023-2024 show the average number of bills passed in the House by a member was 1.5, out of an average of 23 measures introduced by each lawmaker.

"It's not unusual for none of your bills to become law," said Craig Volden, a professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking.

But the center constructs legislative effectiveness scores for Congress members that use as many as 15 other metrics that add meaning, he explained.

Those include the substantiveness of the topics bill sponsors try to tackle, weighting for bigger issues and downgrading for commemorative or feel-good bills, whether the lawmakers can attract bipartisan co-sponsors and go about building coalitions for their legislation and the degree to which their own bills reflect any specialization — focusing on one or two areas, rather than a scattershot approach across a lot of different issues.

As a group, the four Long Island House members stand out in one way when compared with most of their colleagues nationally, Volden adds.

"All four tend to be in the bipartisan space more so than we see for Congress as a whole," Volden said after studying the legislation introduced by the delegation since January. "That’s been fascinating to see."

Based on their lawmaking activity since January through this midway point in the congressional session, here’s Volden's scorecard of the overall effectiveness of each of those four:

Nick LaLota

23 bills/resolutions introduced

4 passed in House

LaLota is the "highest performer" so far within the delegation in terms of legislative effectiveness this session, says Volden — and it’s not just because four of the five non-ceremonial bills the delegation has passed out of the House are his.

More than half the total bills he’s introduced so far are focused on defense or government operations, which reflects a hint of specialization. His total is padded some by five bills devoted to renaming post offices or Veterans Affairs facilities.

LaLota was previously a high-performer as a freshman House member in the last session when he passed seven bills altogether. LaLota is staying on track in the first half of this session, or maybe performing a bit above, Volden says.

LaLota also has managed to attract a bunch of co-sponsors to most of his bills, with almost all of them reflecting backers from both parties, including some with more Democrats than Republicans.

LaLota himself notes he has previously been rated by The Center for Effective Lawmaking based on his legislating last session as more effective than 92% of Republican members of Congress, and he says its "because I focus on real results."

And like other members of the delegation, LaLota underscores that his legislative successes have gone beyond bill introductions, to include a key role in helping secure a state and local tax (SALT) cap increase.

"I am pleased with the success we have had passing our bills out of the House, and I likely would have moved even more legislation had I not devoted so much of my legislative bandwidth to securing the quadrupling of SALT," LaLota said.

Andrew Garbarino

29 bills/resolutions introduced

1 bill passed in the House

Garbarino was named chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in July, and that perch could ultimately serve to boost his numbers in the second half of this session.

For now, his legislative effectiveness is already showing signs of rising beyond the middle-of-the pack, and on track with what he did last session, rising to be a high performer,  Volden said.

With passage of one of his own bills, Garbarino has already accomplished as much in that regard as he did in the previous session. The House in June passed Garbarino’s Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at supporting law enforcement officers and restoring public safety in Washington, D.C.

Not included in his numbers is work Garbarino is doing as the new chairman of Homeland Security Committee. He helped guide bipartisan homeland security legislation through the House, including 14 bills after the government shutdown. He also worked for the reversal of Trump administration plans to cut $187 million in counterterrorism funding for New York earlier this year.

His own bills also cut across several issue areas. For instance, one of his bills would reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program and seven are tied to issues in the finance sector. And almost all of his bills have bipartisan sponsorship, including some with more Democratic backers than Republicans, which also scores high. One bill tied to police, immigration control and enforcement became part of the Laken Riley Act, signed by President Donald Trump into law.

Garbarino also reminds that he was chairman of the SALT Caucus, and played a big role in efforts during this session to secure the SALT deduction for Long Island families.

"Looking ahead, my focus remains on affordability, supporting law enforcement and first responders, and strengthening the federal programs our communities depend on. Introducing bills is important, but delivering tangible results for Long Island families matters even more," Garbarino said.

Tom Suozzi

16 bills/resolutions introduced

1 commemorative bill passed in House

Suozzi, as much as anyone in Congress, promotes his role as a bipartisan-focused lawmaker. He is co-chair of the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

But he also now sits in the minority party, since his return to Congress midterm last year after an earlier tenure in the House. So far this session, he has passed one commemorative bill related to a medial award ceremony, but Volden and the Center for Effective Lawmaking don’t give much weight in their ratings to those types of legislation.

"We only look at bills that can become law," he said.

So far, Suozzi is not viewed this session by Volden as a particularly effective lawmker  — though most of his bills do have a bipartisan flavor. In terms of specialization, his issue focus is largely scattered with no major pattern, though the Ways and  Means Committee member does have several bills related to taxation.

Suozzi responds that he’s "helped to shape the debate on a lot of things." He says he put SALT on everyone’s "radar," and he’s helped lead discussion on immigration and border security, as well as place congressional focus on health care.

Some of the discussion going on now about bipartisan approaches to addressing expiring Obamacare tax cuts, he says, is based on initial work he’s done and a bill he cosponsored.

"It doesn’t have to be my bill. I don’t have to be the main guy," Suozzi said. "I just try to get things done."

Laura Gillen

8 bills/resolutions introduced

0 bills passed in House.

"It's always tough to say what’s going on in terms of a freshman lawmaker’s effectiveness," Volden says, based on just the first half of an initial session.

Freshmen Democrats in the last Congress averaged an introduction of 16 bills. Gillen has eight so far, meaning she is halfway to that average, Volden said.

Two of the bills she’s introduced are in the transportation area. And since she serves on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, "I think that may be a good start," he said.

"I’d be really interested if she introduces more bills whether she decides that’s an area of specialization she wants to build on. It would be natural given the committee she sits on," he said. She also is sponsor of a bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization, along with GOP Reps. Mike Lawler (R-Orangetown) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), that has 71 bipartisan co-sponsors.

Most of Gillen’s bills have co-sponsors, but Volden says the others tend to be limited to a handful. Yet, like the other three delegation members, she overall reflects some bipartisanship. Her congressional seat is considered pivotal in the fight for party control of the House in 2026, and the extent to which her party leaders may try to help boost her bill-passage numbers is something to watch.

"I’m proud to have worked across the aisle to address the issues that matter most to our families," Gillen said. "I’ve introduced numerous bipartisan bills to lower costs, including health care costs; to enhance safety on our roads, waterways and in our skies; to address the mental health crisis impacting our youth; and support the well-being of our law enforcement."

She said she is also leading bipartisan legislation to cut taxes through a full restoration of the state and local tax deduction. "At a time of extreme hyperpartisanship," she said, "Long Islanders can trust that I am using every available tool to deliver real results."