When they ran for office, Arizona’s congressional delegation promised to make changes in Washington, D.C., that would be felt here at home. In practice, they’re not getting much done, at least legislatively.
Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs has spent the better part of a decade in Washington, D.C., sponsoring bills at a prolific pace. So prolific, in fact, that the East Valley Republican once sponsored 512 bills and resolutions in a single day in 2023.
None from that day passed or were signed into law.
Having sponsored more than 900 pieces of legislation in nine years in office, only one of Biggs’ bills has crossed the finish line on Capitol Hill: legislation renaming the Southeast Veterans Affairs Health Care Clinic in Gilbert after a soldier who was killed in Africa.
But one bill in nine years is by no means an outlier in Washington these days.
Vanderbilt University professor Alan Wiseman chairs the Center for Effective Lawmaking, which analyzes lawmakers' success rates annually.
“If we're simply looking at the proportion of bills that people actually get through the entire process to make their way into law? I mean, it's a really, really low number, especially in recent congresses. We're talking about maybe 1% to 2% of all bills,” Wiseman said.
None of Arizona’s senators and representatives qualified for Wiseman’s list of the most effective lawmakers in Washington.
In fact, none managed better than the low 2% average.
Having served a combined total of 69 years in office, the current slate of lawmakers from Arizona have passed just 20 bills during that time. Seven of those, like Biggs' legislation renaming a health clinic, simply renamed other buildings in the state.
Wiseman says there are several reasons why some lawmakers have an easier time passing legislation than others.
“Most members of Congress tend to be more successful at navigating the legislative arena the longer they're in Congress, as well as when they're the majority party or if the committee or subcommittee chairs,” Wiseman said.
Still, time spent in Washington doesn’t always equate to legislative success.
Arizona’s longest serving congressman, David Schweikert, hasn’t sponsored as many bills as Biggs during his 15 years representing a swath of the northeast Valley.
In that time, only two Schweikert bills — one renaming a post office and another transferring land to the Bureau of Reclamation to develop hydropower facilities — have been signed into law.
Compare that to a relative newcomer, two-term Republican Juan Ciscomani, who Wiseman’s organization flagged as “exceeding expectations” for helping shepherd a budget bill through Congress as a freshman lawmaker.
‘Selling your soul’
Another long-timer, former Republican Congressman Matt Salmon, spent nearly two decades in Washington before he says he soured on the ineffectiveness of the experience.
He said getting legislation passed is contingent on “selling your soul” to party leadership.
“I got sick and tired of the game play and the fact that if you wanted to get any kind of legislation done you had to do things that you found personally reprehensible, and it was all about fundraising for the NRCC and you know they called it being a team player,” Salmon said. “I called it being a suck-up.”
Salmon said in the hyperpartisan political world, he considers former independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema the most effective Arizona politician in recent years. Salmon called her an anomaly, able to leverage the two-party system forced to court her vote.
“If you're not mandated by, you know, your conference, to do whatever they tell you to do you’re in an incredibly liberating spot, and I think that's where Sinema was. I think that was part of her strength,” he said.
Salmon said if he ever had to go back to Congress, he’d want to do it as an independent — but acknowledged they have a harder time getting elected in the first place. Sinema, after all, opted against running for reelection as an independent in 2024 after leaving the Democratic Party.
Salmon cited a comment from former House Speaker Paul Ryan about two types of people in Congress: the doers who want to accomplish things and the be-ers who just want to be in office.
“I think upwards of 90% of the people I worked with were be-ers — they just wanted to be there and have a title,” Salmon said.
None of the current Republicans in Congress from Arizona agreed to speak with KJZZ for this story.
But in a statement, GOP Congressman Eli Crane echoed Salmon’s concerns that party leadership, particularly of the party in power, act as gatekeepers in Washington, strategically granting certain members opportunities as a way to boost their reelection prospects, rather than on the merits of a legislative idea.
With that in mind, Crane defended the low batting averages of himself and his colleagues like Biggs and Schweikert.
Legislating from the minority
As for Democrats, don’t expect much in the next two years while Republicans control the House, Senate and White House.
Being in the minority makes passing legislation an even greater challenge.
But even while he served as part of a Democratic majority in the Senate, Sen. Mark Kelly said bipartisanship is always crucial.
“I have great Republican colleagues in the United States Senate, and we work together really well, and we’ve got the same, often we have the same desires and wishes for our country,” Kelly said. “Just sometimes it’s hard, you know, it’s different how you’re going to get there.”
Kelly’s shown some skill navigating the legislative process, having helped pass bills to fund rural water systems and streamline federal review processes for Arizona’s burgeoning semiconductor manufacturing industry.
He said he’s working to maintain good relationships across the aisle, even in a lean era for Democrats, in hopes of finding more success in the future.
“When we do get beyond Donald Trump, we want to make sure that it’s going to be easier to recover from, you know, these relationships, so that's why I think it’s still important now to try to have the best relationships across the aisle, and work hard and try to get things done in a bipartisan way,” Kelly said.
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego has passed four bills in 11 years, dating back to his time in the House. He said he goes to senior lawmakers for advice, regardless of political party.
“I just talk to all of them that have been there longer than me, Republicans and Democrats, and literally just ask them advice about how to get something through, and sometimes it's asking advice from them to ask for a favor at the same time,” Gallego said.
There’s more to Congress than bills
Some lawmakers, Kelly included, also argue passing legislation isn’t the benchmark for what makes someone effective in Congress.
There’s also the act of obstructing what they consider to be bad legislation, as well as constituent services.
Salmon and Kelly both said their work in constituent services is what they’re most proud of.
“I've got a whole team of people out there that are fighting with the federal government on individual cases hundreds of cases all the time to make sure that, you know, Arizonans have a right to readdress the government and get the benefits if they qualify for these things and they have a voice in Washington,” Kelly said.
Still, some argue Arizona lawmakers’ generally poor success rate when it comes to passing bills has an impact on the state’s electorate.
Penny Sheoran with the Arizona chapter of the League of Women Voters said constituents can lose faith in lawmakers who make grand promises on the campaign trail, but accomplish little once elected.
“We’ve lost that trust and with that trust, the resiliency of the voter to overcome, you know, the distrust and still continue to vote has become so impacted that our voters are not voting that they constantly see candidates as being self-serving,” Sheoran said.
She added there’s a perception that lawmakers are beholding to the people who fund them , rather than their constituents.
“We can keep changing the politicians, but what is becoming harder and harder, even for the people who are fair minded, who want to work together, is that they are literally sleeping in a toxic culture that won't permit them to work together,” Sheoran said.
Sheoran says there’s not much Arizona voters can do to make Washington more effective, beyond what they’re already doing; voting for candidates who promise to be effective, and hoping they follow through.
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