Antonio Delgado came into his first term in Congress flipping his district from red to blue. Since then, he has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill for being a moderate Democrat who will work with colleagues across the aisle. He’s been a vocal advocate for agriculture and investments in infrastructure. Delgado had three pieces of legislation passed out of the House and successfully shepherded two bills into law: a non-controversial post office renaming, and the Family Farmer Relief Act of 2019, a law designed to help financially-distressed farmers become eligible for debt relief and other resources under Chapter 12 bankruptcy.

 

In response to this project, Rep. Antonio Delgado issued a statement. The following statements and assertions are those of a political candidate and/or congressional office. Any statistics, data, or other information contained therein has not been independently verified or checked for accuracy as part of this project:

 

"Legislating with members of both parties has been a top priority of mine, as evidenced by the fact that the Lugar Center Bipartisan Index - the gold standard for measuring bipartisanship in Congress - ranks me as more bipartisan than over 90% of my colleagues. Consistent with this fact, I have been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and am one of just twenty House members to receive the Chamber's inaugural Jefferson-Hamilton Award for Bipartisanship. My commitment to finding ways to work together has resulted in me introducing 44 bills, more than half of which are bipartisan, 18 have passed the House, and 3 have been signed into law.”

 

Rep. Delgado’s measures signed into law: 

  1. H.R. 2336: Family Farmer Relief Act

    • In August 2019, the President signed Rep. Delgado’s bipartisan Family Farmer Relief Act, which eases the process of reorganizing debt through Chapter 12 bankruptcy and increases the eligibility threshold to more accurately reflect the cost of doing business for family farmers today. Chapter 12 is a tool created specifically to help family farmers during tough economic times.

  2. H.R.2151: To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7722 South Main Street in Pine Plains, New York, as the "Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon M. Kent Post Office".

    • Rep. Delgado’s legislation to rename the Pine Plains Post Office after fallen soldier Senior Chief Petty Officer (SCPO) Shannon M. Kent was signed into law in December of 2019. SCPO Kent, a Pine Plains native, was killed in Syria by a suicide bombing during her fifth combat tour in the Middle East in January 2019.

  3. H.R.6304: Small Business Repayment Relief Act

    • Signed into law as part of the bipartisan CARES Act (page 29, Section 1112)

    • During CARES Act negotiations, Rep. Delgado introduced and worked to include his bill, The Small Business Repayment Relief Act, which provides $17 billion in automatic, direct loan payments for new and existing small business loans during COVID-19. This bill became law in March of 2020.

  4. Amendment to FY2020 Appropriations Legislation to secure additional funding for Lyme Disease research and prevention

    • Rep. Delgado also secured additional funding for Lyme disease during last year’s appropriations process.

    • In FY19, the Labor HHS appropriations included $12 million for Lyme Disease. (Pg. 524)  During the FY2020 appropriations process, Rep. Delgado offered an amendment to increase these funds which was passed out of the House on 6/13/19. This amendment was included in the FY20 Labor HHS Conference Report, which now provides $14M for Lyme Disease. (Pg. 102)


What the rankings mean:

Number of bills sponsored:

This metric measures the number of unique bills put forward by a Representative or a Senator. A Resolution usually expresses an opinion or addresses procedure in the House or Senate and doesn’t go to the President. An Amendment is a change to the language of legislation. Everything has to be voted on.

Number of bills passed out of one chamber:

Getting a bill passed through a chamber is tough. In order to pass a bill out of a chamber, a member of Congress must build consensus among his or her colleagues.

Number of bills signed into law:

If a bill from an opposite party is signed into law by a President, the achievement is a significant victory for that Member of Congress if the bill is significant. Many non-controversial bills are signed into law as a matter of routine.

Percentage a member votes with his or her party:

Source: ProPublica. Procedural votes count toward this score and it isn’t entirely indicative of a member’s loyalty, or disloyalty, to the party.

Lugar Center Bipartisan Index Score:

The Bipartisan Index is a joint project of The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Scores above 1.0 are outstanding. Scores above .5 are very good. Scores below -.5 are poor. Scores below -1.0 are very poor.