Swalwell said he leads all freshman 
Democrats in bills passed with one.

CONGRESS | 15TH DISTRICT | Offering fun facts and figures meant to add beef to his flimsy patty of work has been a hallmark of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s first term. In fact, he includes a running scoreboard on his congressional Web site boasting to have flown over 350,000 miles, attending 800 meetings in the district and holding 13 town hall meetings since January 2013. He offered another superfluous fact last Saturday in Alameda.

“I have passed more bills than any freshman Democrat in the Congress,” Swalwell told the Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus. “It’s a divided Congress, but no other freshman Democrat has passed more bills than me. Now, only three others have passed a bill in Congress, but I am working to stand up for this community.”

Translation: Swalwell is currently in a four-way tie for most bills passed by rookie Democrats in the House with a grand total of one. President Obama signed legislation authored by Swalwell last month allowing donations to the Filipino typhoon relief fund be included on taxpayers’ 2013 returns.

Other freshman passing bills in the 113th Congress include Rep. Dennis Heck’s (D-Wash.) Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013 that deleted a period and added “and” to existing legislation, in addition, to a paragraph urging the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to improve fiscal safety for mortgagees.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-HI) Helping Heroes Fly Act allows expedited airport screening of severely injured and disabled veterans and Rep. Ann Kuster’s (D-N.H.) bill named the air traffic control center in Nashua, N.H. after Patricia Clark.

The uninspiring list of legislation is no surprise given the entire Congress in 2013 passed the least number of bills in U.S. history. Incidentally, Swalwell’s predecessor, Pete Stark, also passed just one piece of legislation during his first term in 1973-1974.

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