In a race, we might consider the overall distance traveled by a car, but it’s also important to consider its speed. Similarly, in the United States Congress we might note what bills have accumulated the most cosponsors overall, but we might also want to consider which bills are accelerating forward by gaining cosponsors. To adopt another metaphor, is there such a thing as a “bandwagon effect” in politics? If so, then in the Congress expression of support for a bill could make it more likely for others to add their support as well.

With that possibility in mind, here are the five bills in the House of Representatives that have gained the most cosponsors over the past week, February 18-24, 2009*:

1. H.R. 1136, the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2009. The principal sponsor is congressional centrist Bart Stupak of Michigan, and this bill is the least partisan of the House bills being profiled this week, with cosponsorship being added by 19 Republicans and 26 Democratic members. SOSSBA 2009, if passed, would extend the practice of not counting foreign workers returning to this country when determining quotas for foreign workers under the H-2B visa program. In plain English, it allows more foreign workers to come into the United States on a temporary basis to fill jobs. There’s little geographic clustering of support for this bill, with congressional supporters representing states from Maine to California, from Washington through Kansas all the way to South Carolina.

2. If H.R. 1136 is the least partisan bill in our rankings this week, H.R. 1139 is the most partisan, with just one Republican joining 38 Democrats in supporting it. The COPS Improvements Act of 2009, H.R. 1139 is a law-and-order bill that aims to invest money in community policing programs that aim to reduce gang, drug and other local criminal activity by assigning law enforcement locally to maintain contact with schools and other local organizations. The principal sponsor of H.R. 1139 is New York Representative Anthony Weiner.

3. H.R. 43, the Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2009, repeals caps on Medicare reimbursement of outpatient rehabilitation therapy. This week, 12 Republicans and 20 Democrats joined 15 previous cosponsors in support for the bill, whose principal sponsor is California Xavier Becerra.

4. This past week, 28 Republicans and 2 Democrats joined Ron Paul and 52 other Republican members of the House who had already cosponsored H.R. 997, a bill introduced by Iowa congressman Steve King that would create a federal mandate for the use of English by state and local governments. Earlier this month, an analysis of H.R. 997 cosponsors indicated that they did not represent districts where the most speakers of Spanish reside, or where the least speakers of Spanish reside, but from districts where levels of Spanish-speaking are moderate. It would be interesting to see if this remains the case when the newest cosponsors are added to the analysis.

5. Adirondacks Mountains Representative John McHugh is the chief sponsor of H.R. 22, a bill to change the funding structure of pensions for U.S. Postal Service employees so that pensions don’t have to be pre-funded but can be drawn from existing funds. The measure has the support of the National Association of Letter Carriers. From February 18 through February 24, the bill gained 6 Republican cosponsors and 18 Democratic cosponsors.

*Note: these counts do not include the cosponsorship of non-voting congressional delegates.

Heading to the upper chamber of Congress, these are the six bills in the U.S. Senate (the two last are tied) that have gained the most cosponsors over the past week, February 18-24, 2009:

1. S. 464, a bill introduced by Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, with the purpose of increasing awards delivered under the auspices of the National and Community Service Act of 1990. This bill, like all others on this week’s list for the Senate, is on the list for gaining the most cosponsors because it is the week of the bill’s first introduction, offering the initial opportunity for cosponsorship. S. 464 has 7 Democratic cosponsors and 1 Republican cosponsor.

2. S. 466 is a companion bill to the above, also introduced by Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. This bill’s purpose is to add “Summer of Service” federal and state grant programs to those already in place under the National and Community Service Act of 1990. S. 466 has 5 Democratic cosponsors and 1 Republican cosponsor.

3. S. 456 is the most bipartisan bill in this week’s set for the Senate, with 3 Democratic cosponsors and 2 Republican cosponsors. I won’t tell you who the principal sponsor of this bill is, but his name rhymes with Blister-Filled Pod. This bill directs the Secretary of Education and Secretary of Health and Human Services to come up with programs and grants to reduce food allergy problems in day care and public education environments.

4. S. 467, another bill by Guess Who, is a third bill in the set promoting community service, this time by introducing Encore Service Programs, Encore Fellowship Programs, and Silver Scholarship to encourage service by senior Americans. S. 467 has 4 Democratic cosponsors and 1 Republican cosponsor.

5. S. 458 is a bill introduced by… not Chris Dodd! No, this bill is introduced by Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. This bill’s cryptically stated purpose is to “amend the False Claims Act.” The False Claims Act regards claims for filed by third parties against federal contractors with the claim that those contractors have defrauded the federal government in some regard, usually monetary. This bill to amend the Act, which Senator Grassley has introduced for a number of consecutive sessions of Congress, would make it easier for a false claims suit introduced by a whistleblower to succeed in court. S. 458 has 3 Democratic cosponsors and 1 Republican cosponsor.

6. S. 465 is a companion bill to the above, also introduced by Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. This bill’s purpose is to add a “Semester of Service” programs to complement other programs proposed by Senator Dodd and those already in place under the National and Community Service Act of 1990. S. 465 has 3 Democratic cosponsors and 1 Republican cosponsor.

Is there a bandwagon here? I would be hard-pressed to agree when it comes to the Senate, where the bills gaining the most cosponsorship are simply some of the bills most recently introduced. But in the House, that is not the case; some of the bills gaining the most cosponsors are bills introduced some time ago. Quo vadis, legislation? Perhaps I will need to be asking that question in English this time next year.