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Sen. Barbara Boxer’s 2013 Report Card

Junior Senator from California
Democrat
Served Jan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 2017

These year-end statistics cover Boxer’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare her to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.

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 Boxer’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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Ranked most politically left compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Our 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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Boxer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); All Senators (4th percentile).

 

Held the 2nd most committee positions compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Boxer held a leadership position on 2 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 Boxer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); All Senators (96th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 3rd most bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Boxer cosponsored 196 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); All Senators (88th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 9th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)

6 of Boxer’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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. 45: West Coast Ocean Protection Act …; S. 51: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation …; S. 120: Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act; S. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act; S. 601: Water Resources Development Act of …; S. 1463: Captive Primate Safety Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (79th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (87th percentile).

 

Introduced the 12th most bills compared to All Senators

Boxer introduced 44 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); All Senators (88th percentile).

 

Got the 12th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Boxer’s bills and resolutions had 249 cosponsors in 2013. 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (85th percentile); Senate Democrats (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (88th percentile).

 

Ranked the 13th top leader compared to All Senators

Our 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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Boxer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); All Senators (87th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 14th least often compared to All Senators

Of the 196 bills that Boxer cosponsored, 14% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (13th percentile); Senate Democrats (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (13th percentile); All Senators (13th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Was 15th most absent in votes compared to All Senators

Boxer missed 4.5% of votes (13 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Boxer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); All Senators (85th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 18th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Boxer introduced 5 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 59: Distinguished Flying Cross National Memorial …; S. 120: Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act; S. 146: School and Campus Safety Enhancements …; S. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act; S. 601: Water Resources Development Act of …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (66th percentile); Senate Democrats (68th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); All Senators (78th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Boxer introduced 1 bill that became law in 2013. 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. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Senate Democrats (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile).

We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 8 of Boxer’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the House. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: S. 51: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation …; S. 61: California Coastal National Monument Expansion …; S. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act; S. 809: Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act; S. 1463: Captive Primate Safety Act; S. 1598: Pay Our Bills Act; S. 1644: Article 32 Reform Act; S. 1692: Safe Skies Act of 2013

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (56th percentile); Senate Democrats (60th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (67th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Boxer tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 25% of Boxer’s 44 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (42nd percentile); Senate Democrats (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Senators (38th percentile).

Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Boxer supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Boxer 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Boxer cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (51st percentile); Senate Democrats (32nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); All Senators (47th 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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.