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Sen. Bob Corker’s 2015 Report Card

Junior Senator from Tennessee
Republican
Served Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2019

These year-end statistics cover Corker’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 Corker’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 3rd fewest bills compared to All Senators

Corker cosponsored 53 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 (3rd percentile); Senate Republicans (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); All Senators (2nd percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 3rd highest % of bills compared to All Senators

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 62% of Corker’s 13 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (95th percentile); Senate Republicans (95th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile).

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

Ranked 4th most politically left compared to Senate Republicans

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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Corker’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (53rd percentile); Senate Republicans (6th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (49th percentile).

 

Introduced the 5th fewest bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Corker introduced 13 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (10th percentile); Senate Republicans (28th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (13th percentile); All Senators (18th percentile).

 

Ranked the 12th 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Corker’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (78th percentile); Senate Republicans (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (88th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 13th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

6 of Corker’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. 553: End Modern Slavery Initiative Act …; S. 615: Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act …; S. 1933: Electrify Africa Act of 2015; S. 2079: United States Commission on International …; S. 2152: Electrify Africa Act of 2015; S. 2201: Global Gateways Trade Capacity Act …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (78th percentile); Senate Republicans (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); All Senators (85th percentile).

 

Got the 21st most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Corker’s bills and resolutions had 258 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (65th percentile); Senate Republicans (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); All Senators (79th percentile).

 

Was 21st most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)

Corker missed 3.2% of votes (11 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Corker’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); All Senators (78th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Corker introduced 2 bills that became law in 2015. 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. 2078: United States Commission on International …; S. 2079: United States Commission on International …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Senate Republicans (83rd 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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Corker introduced 5 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 553: End Modern Slavery Initiative Act …; S. 615: Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act …; S. 1635: Department of State Operations Authorization …; S. 2078: United States Commission on International …; S. 2152: Electrify Africa Act of 2015

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (53rd percentile); Senate Republicans (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65th percentile); All Senators (74th percentile).

 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 2 of Corker’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. 2078: United States Commission on International …; S. 2079: United States Commission on International …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (3rd percentile); Senate Republicans (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); All Senators (5th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Corker held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Corker’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); All Senators (60th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 53 bills that Corker cosponsored, 21% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); Senate Republicans (54th percentile); All Senators (31st percentile).

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

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Corker supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Corker 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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.