The Lugar Center’s Bipartisan Index (BPI) for the 116th Congress was highly predictive of how Members of the House of Representatives voted on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed on November 5, 2021.  The 228-206 outcome featured 13 Republicans who voted with Democrats to pass the bill and 6 progressive Democrats who voted against the bill.

The GOP infrastructure bill supporters were a “Who’s Who” of Republican Bipartisan Index leaders from the last Congress.  The five highest scoring Republicans on the BPI who are still in Congress all voted for the bill:  Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), John Katko (NY), Chris Smith (NJ), Don Young (AK), and David McKinley (WV).  Four other Republicans who voted “yes” ranked among the top 17 Republicans on the BPI:  Don Bacon (NE) — 8th, Tom Reed (NY) — 14th, Adam Kinzinger (IL) —16th, and Anthony Gonzalez (OH) — 17th.  All nine of these members ranked in the top 10 percent of the overall Bipartisan Index (when including Democrats, Republicans who retired at the end of the last Congress, and Republicans who did not have a vote because they represented territories).  Fred Upton (MI), who also voted for the bill, had a strongly positive BPI score in the top 25% overall.  Andrew Gabarino and Nicole Malliotakis (both from New York) are freshmen who don’t yet have a BPI score.  However, it is interesting to note that Gabarino took over the district of the retired Peter King, who was a longtime BPI stalwart (4th overall in the 116th Congress).  The 13th Republican vote was Jeff Van Drew who was not scored for the whole 116th Congress because he switched parties half way through.  But his score in 2019, prior to the switch, was 20th overall, ranking him in the top 5% for the year.

At the other end of the spectrum, the six Democrats who voted against the bill included the three lowest scoring Democrats in the 116th Congress BPI.  These were Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (NY) — 427th overall, Ayanna Pressley (MA) — 426th, and Ilhan Omar (MN) — 424th.  Rashida Tlaib (MI) ranked just slightly higher at 414th.  The two other Democrats dissenters were Jamaal Bowman (NY) and Cori Bush (MO), both of whom are freshmen who do not yet have scores.

Following are the Republican House members who voted for the infrastructure bill.  The first number indicates their overall rank.  The second number in parentheses indicates their rank among current Republicans in the 117 Congress who were eligible to vote on the bill.  

1.  (1) Brian Fitzpatrick  (PA)

2.  (2) John Katko (NY)

5.  (3) Chris Smith (NJ)

6.  (4) Don Young  (AK)

10. (5) David McKinley (WV)

15. (8) Don Bacon  (NE)

30.  (14) Tom Reed  (NY)

36.  (16) Adam Kinzinger (IL)

39. (17) Anthony Gonzalez (OH)

94. (39) Fred Upton (MI)

No Score in the 116th:  Andrew Gabarino (NY), Nicole Malliotakis (NY), Jeff Van Drew (NJ)