Where is he or she on the Seniority Scale?
All members of Congress, both House and Senate, are ranked on a scale of seniority, based upon when they were elected to that office. If your representative is relatively new to office, the unfortunate fact is that he or she is not going to be able to move as many legislative initiatives or secure as many appropriations dollars as a more senior member might be able to do. RollCall, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, does a ranking once a year of the seniority and influence of state delegations. The ranking is posted in the “Welcome Congress” section of their Special Features page.
