Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s 2015 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Minnesota
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Klobuchar’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.
A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Klobuchar’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.
Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.
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Held the 3rd fewest committee positions compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)Klobuchar held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Klobuchar’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (2nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsKlobuchar cosponsored 258 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (82nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 6th most often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 3 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Klobuchar introduced 4 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 166: Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act …; S. 179: A bill to designate the …; S. 403: North Country National Scenic Trail …; S. 1250: Nicholas and Zachary Burt Memorial … Compare to all Senate Democrats (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (65th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th highest % of bills compared to Senate DemocratsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 43% of Klobuchar’s 42 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Senate Democrats (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); All Senators (75th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 14th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 258 bills that Klobuchar cosponsored, 40% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (73rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); All Senators (86th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Was 12th most present in votes compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 4 others)Klobuchar missed 0.6% of votes (2 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Klobuchar’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); All Senators (25th percentile). |
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Introduced the 17th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)Klobuchar introduced 42 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); All Senators (80th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 19th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 31: Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation …; S. 179: A bill to designate the …; S. 403: North Country National Scenic Trail …; S. 761: Veterans Access to Care Act; S. 827: Improving Rural Call Quality and …; S. 894: Innovate America Act; S. 1076: Smartphone Theft Prevention Act of …; S. 1490: Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of …; S. 1670: Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act …; S. 1801: Agriculture Equipment and Machinery Depreciation …; S. 2202: Agriculture Equipment and Machinery Depreciation …; S. 2299: Trade Enforcement Improvement Act of … Compare to all Senate Democrats (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); All Senators (77th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Laws EnactedKlobuchar introduced 1 bill that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills » Those bills were: S. 179: A bill to designate the … Compare to all Senate Democrats (68th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Senators (59th percentile). A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Powerful Cosponsors4 of Klobuchar’s bills and resolutions in 2015 had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward. Those bills were: S. 166: Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act …; S. 1327: SALTS Act; S. 1634: Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of …; S. 2019: Preserve Access to Affordable Generics … Compare to all Senate Democrats (59th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); All Senators (61st percentile). |
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CosponsorsKlobuchar’s bills and resolutions had 168 cosponsors in 2015. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile). |
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Ideology ScoreOur unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress. For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Klobuchar’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (66th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (35th percentile); All Senators (30th percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills. For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Klobuchar’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); All Senators (55th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Klobuchar supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Klobuchar 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Klobuchar cosponsored S. 229: Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting …; S. 366: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 1538: Fair Elections Now Act Compare to all Senate Democrats (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); All Senators (64th percentile). |
Additional Notes
Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.
Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).
Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.
Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of 2015) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
