Sen. Benjamin “Ben” Sasse’s 2018 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Nebraska
Republican
Served Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 8, 2023
These statistics cover Sasse’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him 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 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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Introduced the fewest bills compared to Senate SophomoresSasse introduced 15 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (4th percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to Senate SophomoresIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 3 of Sasse’s 15 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Sasse caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to Senate SophomoresSasse cosponsored 86 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 Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (8th percentile); All Senators (4th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Senate SophomoresOf the 86 bills that Sasse cosponsored, 16% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (10th percentile); All Senators (5th 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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Got their bills out of committee the least often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Sasse introduced 2 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 17: GAO Access and Oversight Act …; S.J.Res. 26: A joint resolution providing for … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (1st percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 2nd fewest bills compared to Senate Sophomores (tied with 2 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 17: GAO Access and Oversight Act …; S. 220: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act; S. 3450: Presidential Tax Transparency Act; S. 3452: Cabinet Service Integrity Act; S.J.Res. 26: A joint resolution providing for … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (20th percentile); All Senators (15th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got the 7th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsSasse’s bills and resolutions had 90 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 Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (6th percentile); All Senators (6th percentile). |
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Ranked the 7th bottom/follower compared to Senate RepublicansOur 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 Sasse’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (12th percentile); All Senators (16th percentile). |
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Wrote the 8th fewest laws compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 6 others)Sasse introduced 2 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. 17: GAO Access and Oversight Act …; S.J.Res. 26: A joint resolution providing for … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (14th percentile); All Senators (22nd 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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Got influential cosponsors the 25th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 15 others)4 of Sasse’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. 17: GAO Access and Oversight Act …; S. 220: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act; S. 2938: Transporting Livestock Across America Safely …; S.J.Res. 26: A joint resolution providing for … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (28th percentile); All Senators (24th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsSasse held a leadership position on 0 committees and 2 subcommittees, 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 Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (16th percentile); All Senators (19th 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 Sasse’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (30th percentile); All Senators (65th percentile). |
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Missed VotesSasse missed 1.0% of votes (6 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Sasse’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); All Senators (49th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Sasse supported any of 14 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 Sophomores (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 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.
