Klobuchar is the senior senator from Minnesota and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 4, 2007. Klobuchar is next up for reelection in 2024.
She is also Senate Democratic Steering Committee Chair, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.
Klobuchar is running for President of the United States. We’re tracking the legislative records of the candidates who served in office:
- What can GovTrack data tell us about the thirteen most recent and current Members of Congress running for President? [updated May 3, 2019]
- Health and Criminal Justice legislation introduced by the candidates [updated May 1, 2019]
- Oversight and Immigration legislation introduced by the candiates [updated May 20, 2019]
- Finance and Economy legislation introduced by the candidates [update May 31, 2019]
![Photo of Sen. Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]](/static/legislator-photos/412242-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 Report Card for Klobuchar.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Klobuchar is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Klobuchar has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to May 7, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Amy Klobuchar sits on the following committees:
- Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Ranking Member
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Senate Committee on the Judiciary
- Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights subcommittee Ranking Member
- Joint Economic Committee
- Joint Committee on the Library
- Joint Committee on Printing
- Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
- Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Enacted Legislation
Klobuchar was the primary sponsor of 34 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 191: Burn Pits Accountability Act
- S. 3749 (115th): Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act
- S. 3021: America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018
- S. 2952: Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act
- S. 96: Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017
- S. 1536: Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act
- S. 182: Court-Appointed Guardian Accountability and Senior Protection Act
Does 34 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Klobuchar sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (18%) Government Operations and Politics (17%) Commerce (14%) Crime and Law Enforcement (14%) Taxation (10%) Science, Technology, Communications (9%) Transportation and Public Works (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%)
Recent Bills
Some of Klobuchar’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 3576: Disaster and Emergency Pricing Abuse Prevention Act
- S. 3569: Keeping Critical Connections Act of 2020
- S. 3517: ACCESS Act
- S. 3515: New Business Preservation Act
- S. 3529: Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020
- S. 3426: Anticompetitive Exclusionary Conduct Prevention Act of 2020
- S.Res. 538: A resolution authorizing the use of the atrium in the Philip A. Hart ...
View All » | View Cosponsors »
As Senate Democratic Steering Committee Chair, Klobuchar may be focused on her responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting her party, and brokering deals.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2007 to May 2020, Klobuchar missed 229 of 4,109 roll call votes, which is 5.6%. This is much worse than the median of 1.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events. Legislators running for president or vice president typically miss votes while on the campaign trail — that’s normal. See our analysis of presidential candidates’ missed votes.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
