Sen. Bernard “Bernie” Sanders’s 2014 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Vermont
Independent
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Sanders’s record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 12, 2015. Although Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA1], Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4], Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10], and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI] served in the 112th Congress, they took office within the last two months of the 112th Congress and here are grouped with other freshmen for the 113th 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 Sanders’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 2nd most politically left compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembsOur 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 113th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Sanders’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (2nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); All Senators (6th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2nd lowest % of bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembsSanders tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 9% of Sanders’s 69 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (3rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); All Senators (6th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Introduced the 6th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)Sanders introduced 69 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); All Senators (92nd percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 6th 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. 471: Fair Access to Credit Scores …; S. 525: A bill proposing an amendment …; S. 685: Too Big to Fail, Too …; S. 844: Supporting Community Schools Act of …; S. 851: Caregivers Expansion and Improvement Act …; S. 858: State Leadership in Health Care …; S. 885: A bill to designate the …; S. 1018: Federal Reserve Independence Act; S. 1170: Youth Jobs Act; S. 1252: Upper Missisquoi and Trout Wild …; S. 1522: Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of …; S. 1762: End Polluter Welfare Act of …; S. 2326: Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of …; S. 2450: Veterans’ Access to Care through …; S. 2782: A bill to amend title …; S. 2905: Carbon Pollution Transparency Act of …; S.Res. 233: A resolution authorizing expenditures by …; S.Res. 243: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …; S.J.Res. 11: A joint resolution proposing an … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); All Senators (92nd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Wrote the 6th most laws compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 5 others)Sanders introduced 3 bills that became law in the 113th 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. 885: A bill to designate the …; S. 893: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act …; S. 2782: A bill to amend title … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (76th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (83rd 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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Got their bills out of committee the 10th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Sanders introduced 12 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 851: Caregivers Expansion and Improvement Act …; S. 885: A bill to designate the …; S. 893: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act …; S. 944: Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement …; S. 1252: Upper Missisquoi and Trout Wild …; S. 1562: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act …; S. 1581: Survivors of Military Sexual Assault …; S. 1604: Veterans Health Care Eligibility Expansion …; S. 1950: Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits …; S. 1982: Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits …; S. 2422: Ensuring Veterans Access to Care …; S. 2450: Veterans’ Access to Care through … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); All Senators (88th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 11th fewest bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembsSanders cosponsored 197 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 (24th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (35th percentile). |
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Got the 18th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsSanders’s bills and resolutions had 365 cosponsors in the 113th 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile). |
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Was 19th most absent in votes compared to All SenatorsSanders missed 6.5% of votes (43 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Sanders’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile). |
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Ranked the 20th top leader compared to All SenatorsOur 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 113th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Sanders’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (76th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); All Senators (80th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors6 of Sanders’s bills and resolutions in the 113th 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. 332: Climate Protection Act of 2013; S. 825: Homeless Veterans Prevention Act of …; S. 893: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act …; S. 944: Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement …; S. 1562: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act …; S. 2326: Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); All Senators (67th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsSanders 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 Sanders’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (35th percentile); All Senators (64th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Sanders supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Sanders 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Sanders cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (39th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); All Senators (35th 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 113th Congress) 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.
