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Sen. Brian Schatz’s 2018 Report Card

Senior Senator from Hawaii
Democrat
Serving Dec 27, 2012 – Jan 3, 2023

These statistics cover Schatz’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 Schatz’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 5th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats

Schatz cosponsored 262 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 Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (45th percentile).

 

Ranked the 20th 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 the 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Schatz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (79th percentile); All Senators (80th percentile).

 

Ranked 26th most liberal compared to All Senators

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 the 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Schatz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (51st percentile); All Senators (25th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 25th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Schatz introduced 7 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 760: Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary ...; S. 770: NIST Small Business Cybersecurity Act; S. 2385: Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real ...; S. 3238: READI Act; S. 3461: AMBER Alert Nationwide Act of ...; S.Res. 455: A resolution relative to the ...; S.Res. 607: A resolution reaffirming the vital ...

Compare to all Senate Democrats (30th percentile); All Senators (24th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 25th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 17 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Schatz supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Schatz 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Schatz cosponsored S. 210: Global Health, Empowerment and Rights ...

Compare to all Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (24th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Schatz introduced 1 bill 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. 770: NIST Small Business Cybersecurity Act

Compare to all Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (6th 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.
 

Bills Introduced

Schatz introduced 44 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (43rd percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

5 of Schatz’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. 770: NIST Small Business Cybersecurity Act; S. 1157: PATCH Act of 2017; S. 2471: GRACE Act; S. 2766: Protecting Our Military Installations from ...; S. 3238: READI Act

Compare to all Senate Democrats (32nd percentile); All Senators (40th percentile).

 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 12 of Schatz’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. 250: A bill to prohibit any ...; S. 760: Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary ...; S. 1016: CONNECT for Health Act of ...; S. 1167: Airplane KITS Act; S. 1918: Police CAMERA Act of 2017; S. 2001: State Public Option Act; S. 2100: Tobacco to 21 Act; S. 2260: Opioids and STOP Pain Initiative ...; S. 2340: Federal Labor-Management Partnership Act of ...; S. 2385: Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real ...; S. 2395: Explore America Act of 2018; S. 3238: READI Act

Compare to all Senate Democrats (45th percentile); All Senators (54th percentile).

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

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 19 of Schatz’s 44 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Schatz caucused with in the 115th Congress.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (43rd percentile); All Senators (43rd percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Schatz 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 Schatz’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (23rd percentile); All Senators (19th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 262 bills that Schatz cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (36th percentile); All Senators (51st percentile).

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

Cosponsors

Schatz’s bills and resolutions had 390 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 Democrats (57th percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Schatz missed 2.0% of votes (12 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Schatz’s Profile »

Compare to all All Senators (66th percentile).

Additional Notes

The Speaker’s Votes: Missed votes are not computed for the Speaker of the House. According to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings.” In practice this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes but is not considered absent.

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.