Fact check: How many of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's bills have been passed into law in the 117th Congress?

1. A straightforward count: No enacted bills from AOC in the 117th — what the trackers show

Publicly available legislative tallies and a 2022 report card consistently report that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sponsored and introduced multiple bills and resolutions in the 117th Congress but none of those measures became law, including by being incorporated into other enacted measures ^[1]. GovTrack and similar legislative databases list her introduced measures and mark enacted bills, and the compiled analyses for this period indicate a legislative enactment count of zero for bills she introduced in the 117th ^[1]. These records are the standard reference for researchers and journalists when counting sponsored bills that became law, and they align on the core fact that no sponsored legislation by Ocasio-Cortez cleared both chambers and received enactment during that Congress ^[1].

2. What the scorecards and advocacy documents say — different metrics, different stories

Several documents that profile Representative Ocasio-Cortez do not focus on enacted statutes but instead report scorecards, advocacy wins, or constituent accomplishments; these sources provide context but do not change the enactment tally ^{[3] [4]}. For example, a scorecard lists a low legislative effectiveness percentage for the session but does not enumerate enacted bills tied to her sponsorship ^[3]. Other communications highlight accomplishments from 2021 or political activity by the “Squad” without asserting statutory enactments for AOC in the 117th ^[4]. These materials illustrate different measures of influence—media visibility, policy advocacy, committee activity—but they cannot be used to contradict the specific legislative-enactment count provided by legislative trackers ^{[3] [4]}.

3. Contrasting narratives: How critics and supporters use the same facts differently

Critics often point to the zero enacted-bill figure as a direct measure of legislative effectiveness, framing it as evidence that sponsored bills did not become law ^[1]. Supporters counter by emphasizing alternative forms of policy influence—amendments, public pressure, co-sponsorships, oversight, and constituency services—that do not register as a sponsor-enacted bill but still shape outcomes ^[4]. The available records show both claims can be true simultaneously: the strict legislative metric of sponsor-enacted statutes is zero, while broader measures of political impact are not captured by that single statistic ^{[1] [4]}. Noting these different evaluative frameworks is essential to avoid conflating a narrow legislative count with overall political effectiveness ^[3].

4. The limits of the dataset: what these sources do and do not capture

Legislative trackers and report cards accurately record sponsorship and enactment but do not capture many meaningful forms of influence such as policy shifts created through coalition pressure, insertions into larger bills as amendments, or leadership roles in public debates, unless those elements become codified as enacted law explicitly sponsored by a member ^[1]. Some sources in the record explicitly focus on campaign finance or lobbying rather than statutes, so their absence of an enacted-bill number does not contradict the legislative trackers—it simply means they measure different phenomena ^[2]. Any assessment that treats sponsor-enacted counts as the sole metric of a lawmaker’s impact will therefore omit significant but less easily quantified activities ^{[2] [4]}.

5. Bottom line and reporting guidance: how to state the fact responsibly

The verifiable, narrow answer to the original question is clear: zero bills sponsored by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became law during the 117th Congress, according to multiple legislative trackers and a 2022 report card ^[1]. Journalists and analysts should present that number alongside context explaining its limits—namely that it measures only bills she sponsored that were enacted and does not account for co-sponsorships, political influence, amendments, or non-legislative accomplishments highlighted in separate outreach documents ^{[3] [4]}. When reporting this fact, pair the enacted-bill count with alternative metrics or examples of influence to give audiences a balanced, nuanced picture rather than letting a single statistic serve as a comprehensive judgment ^{[1] [3]}.