Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s 2017 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Minnesota
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Klobuchar’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare her to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.
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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Cosponsored the most bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsKlobuchar cosponsored 330 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 Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); Senate Democrats (93rd percentile); All Senators (97th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the most often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Klobuchar introduced 13 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 81: Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of …; S. 83: Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act; S. 96: Improving Rural Call Quality and …; S. 123: Kari’s Law Act of 2017; S. 182: Court-Appointed Guardian Accountability and Senior …; S. 363: North Country National Scenic Trail …; S. 1536: Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial …; S.Res. 41: A resolution raising awareness and …; S.Res. 122: A resolution designating April 2017 …; S.Res. 171: A resolution supporting the goals …; S.Res. 238: A resolution recognizing the 10th …; S.Res. 327: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 330: Senate Anti-Harassment Training Resolution of … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (96th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 3rd most bills compared to All SenatorsThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 41: Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation …; S. 81: Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of …; S. 83: Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act; S. 96: Improving Rural Call Quality and …; S. 319: Helping Veterans Exposed to Burn …; S. 363: North Country National Scenic Trail …; S. 364: Improving Access to Farm Conservation …; S. 687: Workforce Training Enhancement Act of …; S. 778: Prescription Drug Monitoring Act of …; S. 862: American Apprenticeship Act; S. 898: Conrad State 30 and Physician …; S. 968: Veterans Access to Care Act; S. 969: Supporting Children of the National …; S. 981: A bill to require the …; S. 1660: Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our …; S. 1989: Honest Ads Act; S. 2266: Abby Honold Act; S.Res. 294: A resolution congratulating the Minnesota … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (96th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got influential cosponsors the 2nd most often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 2 others)8 of Klobuchar’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 96: Improving Rural Call Quality and …; S. 123: Kari’s Law Act of 2017; S. 124: Preserve Access to Affordable Generics …; S. 207: SALTS Act; S. 1536: Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial …; S. 1539: Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking …; S. 1544: No Funds for Cyber Coordination …; S. 1688: Empowering Medicare Seniors to Negotiate … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); All Senators (88th percentile). |
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Ranked the 3rd top leader compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Klobuchar’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (93rd percentile); All Senators (90th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 4th most bills compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 22 of Klobuchar’s 54 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (90th percentile); Senate Democrats (96th percentile); All Senators (96th percentile). |
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Introduced the 5th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Klobuchar introduced 54 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); Senate Democrats (93rd percentile); All Senators (94th percentile). |
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Ranked 11th most politically right compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Klobuchar’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); Senate Democrats (76th percentile); All Senators (36th percentile). |
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Got the 12th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsKlobuchar’s bills and resolutions had 304 cosponsors in 2017. 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 Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (83rd percentile); All Senators (88th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 15th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 330 bills that Klobuchar cosponsored, 39% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); Senate Democrats (80th percentile); All Senators (85th 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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Wrote the 12th most laws compared to All Senators (tied with 11 others)Klobuchar introduced 2 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. 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. 83: Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act; S. 182: Court-Appointed Guardian Accountability and Senior … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); All Senators (77th percentile). The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill. |
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Was 24th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 18 others)Klobuchar missed 0.3% of votes (1 of 325 votes) in 2017. View Klobuchar’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (27th percentile); All Senators (23rd percentile). |
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Committee PositionsKlobuchar held a leadership position on 1 committee and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Klobuchar’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); Senate Democrats (61st percentile); All Senators (67th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Klobuchar supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Klobuchar 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Klobuchar cosponsored S.Res. 323: STOP Sexual Harassment Resolution; S. 2159: ME TOO Congress Act Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (61st percentile); All Senators (74th 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 2017) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
