Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s 2018 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Minnesota
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Klobuchar’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare her to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.
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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Introduced the most bills compared to Senate DemocratsKlobuchar introduced 92 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); All Senators (96th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the most bills compared to Senate DemocratsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 65 of Klobuchar’s 92 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Klobuchar caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Cosponsored the most bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsKlobuchar cosponsored 591 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 (94th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 2nd most often compared to Senate DemocratsMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Klobuchar introduced 26 bills in the 115th Congress 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. 207: SALTS Act; S. 363: North Country National Scenic Trail …; S. 645: Measuring the Economic Impact of …; S. 1536: Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial …; S. 2952: Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 …; S. 3021: America’s Water Infrastructure Act of …; S. 3749: Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 …; 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 …; S.Res. 390: A resolution raising awareness and …; S.Res. 405: A resolution designating the third …; S.Res. 476: A resolution designating April 2018 …; S.Res. 516: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 555: A resolution recognizing the freedom …; S.Res. 617: A resolution recognizing The American …; S.Res. 640: A resolution recognizing September 25, …; S.Res. 670: A resolution recognizing the tenth … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); Senate Democrats (96th percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 2nd most often compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)GovTrack looked at whether Klobuchar supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Klobuchar 9 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Klobuchar sponsored S. 1989: Honest Ads Act Klobuchar cosponsored S. 210: Global Health, Empowerment and Rights …; S. 298: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S.Res. 323: STOP Sexual Harassment Resolution; S. 2159: ME TOO Congress Act; S. 3027: Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of …; S. 3438: Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (94th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile). |
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Wrote the 3rd most laws compared to Senate DemocratsKlobuchar introduced 7 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th Congress. 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. 96: Improving Rural Call Quality and …; S. 182: Court-Appointed Guardian Accountability and Senior …; S. 1536: Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial …; S. 2952: Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 …; S. 3021: America’s Water Infrastructure Act of …; S. 3749: Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (94th percentile); All Senators (82nd 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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Ranked the 4th 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 the 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Klobuchar’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); All Senators (89th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 5th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)The 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. 645: Measuring the Economic Impact of …; 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. 2995: Promoting Rural Exports Act of …; S. 3021: America’s Water Infrastructure Act of …; S. 3090: Save Voters Act; S. 3396: Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee Act …; S. 3604: RTP Full Funding Act of …; S.Res. 294: A resolution congratulating the Minnesota …; S.Res. 296: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 327: A resolution designating the week … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); Senate Democrats (89th percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got influential cosponsors the 7th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)13 of Klobuchar’s bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress 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. 1660: Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our …; S. 1688: Empowering Medicare Seniors to Negotiate …; S. 1989: Honest Ads Act; S. 2774: COPS Reauthorization Act of 2018; S. 3792: Preserve Access to Affordable Generics …; S.Res. 392: A resolution commemorating the success …; S.Res. 411: A resolution recognizing the 50th … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
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Got the 15th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsKlobuchar’s bills and resolutions had 503 cosponsors in the 115th Congress. 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 (79th percentile); All Senators (85th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 17th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 591 bills that Klobuchar cosponsored, 39% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); Senate Democrats (74th percentile); All Senators (82nd 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 26th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 7 others)Klobuchar missed 0.5% of votes (3 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Klobuchar’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); All Senators (25th 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 (37th percentile); Senate Democrats (62nd percentile); All Senators (66th 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 the 115th Congress 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 (68th percentile); All Senators (33rd 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 the 115th Congress) 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.
