Sen. Benjamin “Ben” Sasse’s 2015 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Nebraska
Republican
Served Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 8, 2023
These year-end statistics cover Sasse’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him 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 Sasse’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 fewest bills compared to Senate FreshmenSasse cosponsored 52 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 Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); All Senators (1st percentile). |
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Introduced the fewest bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Sasse introduced 4 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the fewest bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 2066: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (1st percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got their bills out of committee the 4th least often compared to Senate Freshmen (tied with 3 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Sasse introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 2128: Inspector General Mandates Reporting Act … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (9th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 9th least often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 2 others)1 of Sasse’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. 2066: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act Compare to all Senate Freshmen (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (15th percentile); All Senators (16th percentile). |
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Got the 13th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)Sasse’s bills and resolutions had 41 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 Freshmen (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (19th percentile); All Senators (12th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 14th least often compared to All SenatorsOf the 52 bills that Sasse cosponsored, 15% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (24th 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. |
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Was 26th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 11 others)Sasse missed 0.6% of votes (2 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Sasse’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (38th percentile); All Senators (25th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedSasse introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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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Committee PositionsSasse 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. View Sasse’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (6th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Sasse supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Sasse 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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.
