In its newest Bipartisan Index, the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University rated U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly the 2nd-most bipartisan member of Congress in either the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House of Representatives. Donnelly ranked 2nd-most bipartisan among Senators and based on the bipartisan index scoring second overall in all of Congress. Former U.S. Senator Dick Lugar wrote in an op-ed published in The Hill with the Dean of the McCourt School last year: “The aim of the Index is to highlight members’ willingness to get results, regardless of party.” See the full Senate rankings here and the House rankings here.
Donnelly said, “Good ideas aren’t exclusive to one party or the other. As the hired help for Hoosiers, my job is to work in a bipartisan way to get things done for the hard-working people of Indiana. I believe that we achieve more when we work together, and I will continue to work with anyone willing to partner with me to make progress for Hoosiers and the American people.”
Donnelly has a strong record of bipartisanship and by working continuously with colleagues, Republican and Democratic: 16 of his legislative efforts are now law. Recent examples of Donnelly’s successful bipartisanship include the following:
· Of the 29 bills signed into law this year, Donnelly has led two of them: one to approve the location for the Desert Storm War Memorial (with Senator John Boozman, R-AR) and a second naming March 29th each year as National Vietnam War Veterans Day (with Senator Pat Toomey, R-PA)
· In December 2016, the final provision of his bipartisan “Servicemember and Veteran Mental Health Care Package” was signed into law, allowing the Department of Defense to improve access to mental health care for servicemembers through the training of physicians’ assistants.. It marked the fourth military mental health reform effort Donnelly has gotten passed and enacted in his four years in the U.S. Senate.
· Several of Donnelly’s provisions aimed at fighting the opioid abuse epidemic became law in July 2016 as part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, and he helped secure funding that will provide important resources to fight this public health crisis.
· Donnelly helped craft a bipartisan federal biotechnology labeling solution that was signed into law in August 2016 and will provide consumers with access to information about their food while also providing certainty to Hoosier farmers and food manufacturers.
· Donnelly helped pass the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act which is now law, including several provisions similar to his “Medical Innovation Agenda” that will bring safe drugs and devices to the public more quickly.
