Congressional Power Rankings

OK, here's something just for fun. Congress.org has devised a method to determine the "Power Rankings" of Senators and Congressmen. Here is the criteria:

Power Rankings Criteria

Our project team identified 15 characteristics of power. These characteristics were then measured and weighted to determine the relative power demonstrated by Members of Congress in 2005. We grouped those characteristics into three broad categories.

1) Position: How much power could the legislator wield through his/her position in the Congress by virtue of tenure, committee assignments or leadership position? This Power Category included weightings for all committees, subcommittees, and leadership positions, taking into consideration majority or minority party status of the member.

2) Influence: How much power did the legislator demonstrate to influence the congressional agenda or outcome of votes through the media, congressional caucuses or money contributed to other Members of Congress by his or her campaign committees or leadership PACs?

3) Legislative Activity: How much power did the legislator demonstrate through the passage of legislation or shaping legislation through amendments? The team eliminated from that data items which did not substantially change the bill or existing law. These included amendments dealing with technical changes or bills of a ceremonial or commemorative nature such as naming of post offices or other public buildings, or non-binding resolutions that expressed the "sense of the Congress."

In addition, the project team recognized that Members of Congress can exert or possess power that can’t be measured by these standard measures. Therefore, we created the "Sizzle/Fizzle" factor. For example, Sizzle factors can include a legislator’s unique background and experience (Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)) or relationships (Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)) or newfound popularity (Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)) that somehow adds weight to their power that is not scored in the other categories. In contrast, Fizzle factors can be applied to legislators who have seen their power diminish during the year, despite their position, due to scandal or other factors that impair the ability of the member to be effective. This was the only subjective criteria and was not weighted heavily in the overall ratings.

Here's how the Rhode Island's delegation ranks: 1) within their chamber; 2) with respect to their party in that chamber; 3) with respect to the state delegation to that chamber. Additionally, I provided their overall "Power Score" along with their score in each of the three categories (Position, Influence, Legislation) mentioned above. Finally, I included the "general factors affecting" their rankings as given by Congress.org.

SENATE:

Sen. Jack Reed - 83rd in Senate, 33rd in Party, 1st in the State. Overall Power Score of 19.75, with 26 points in the "Position" category, 8 in "Influence" and 6 in "Legislation":

• Member has weak committee assignment or lacks significant committee influence due to member's minority party status
• Successfully passed one or more bills out of the House or Senate
• Successfully amended one or more bills on the floor of the House or Senate

Sen. Lincoln Chafee - 86th in Senate, 52nd in Party, 2nd in State. Overall Power Score of 18.67, with 32 points in the "Position" category, 3 in "Influence" and 3 in "Legislation":

• Chair of committee or subcommittee
• Successfully passed one or more bills out of the House or Senate

HOUSE:

Rep. Patrick Kennedy - 219th in House, 45th in Party, 1st in State. Overall Power Score of 14.62, with 26 points in the "Position" category, 3 in "Influence" and 1 in "Legislation":

• Member of Appropriations Committee
• Successfully amended one or more bills on the floor of the House or Senate
• Allowed to offer one or more unsuccessful amendments on the House floor

Rep. James Langevin - 393 in House, 162nd in Party, 2nd in State. Overall Power Score of 6.00, with 12 points in the "Position" category and 0 in both "Influence" and "Legislation":

• Too few terms or years in office in Congress to have significant clout
• Member has weak committee assignment or lacks significant committee influence due to member's minority party status

Put it all together and Rhode Island's delegation ranks 46th, beating out the delegations of Colorado, New Jersey, Georgia and Arkansas, respectively.