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Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer’s 2013 Report Card

Senior Senator from New York
Democrat
Serving Jan 6, 1999 – Jan 3, 2029

These year-end statistics cover Schumer’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding 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 Schumer’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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Held the most committee positions compared to All Senators

Schumer held a leadership position on 3 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Schumer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); All Senators (99th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 3rd least often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Of the 179 bills that Schumer cosponsored, 13% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (5th percentile); Senate Democrats (17th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); All Senators (9th percentile).

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

Got their bills out of committee the 4th most often compared to All Senators

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Schumer introduced 10 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 374: Fix Gun Checks Act of …; S. 744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and …; S. 921: Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe …; S. 987: Free Flow of Information Act …; S. 1512: A bill to designate the …; S.Res. 43: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …; S.Res. 64: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …; S.Res. 228: An original resolution authorizing the …; S.Res. 229: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …; S.Res. 253: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); All Senators (96th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Schumer cosponsored 179 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 (90th percentile); Senate Democrats (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile).

 

Ranked 8th most politically left compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Schumer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (15th percentile); Senate Democrats (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (13th percentile); All Senators (14th percentile).

 

Introduced the 10th most bills compared to All Senators

Schumer introduced 46 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); All Senators (90th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 8th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 6 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Schumer supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Schumer 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Schumer cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 405: Sunshine in the Courtroom Act …; S. 1130: Ending Secret Law Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (88th percentile); Senate Democrats (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile).

 

Ranked the 14th 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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Schumer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 11th least often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 8 others)

2 of Schumer’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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. 921: Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe …; S. 987: Free Flow of Information Act …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (24th percentile); Senate Democrats (32nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (27th percentile); All Senators (39th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 15th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 10 of Schumer’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. 324: Puerto Rico Medicare Part B …; S. 501: Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization …; S. 728: Tax Parity for Health Plan …; S. 842: Rural Hospital Access Act of …; S. 1115: Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification …; S. 1318: HELLPP Act; S. 1480: A bill to amend the …; S. 1535: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism …; S. 1689: Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification …; S. 1882: A bill to amend the …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile).

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

Got the 18th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)

Schumer’s bills and resolutions had 216 cosponsors in 2013. 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); Senate Democrats (66th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); All Senators (81st percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Schumer introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

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

We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Schumer tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 37% of Schumer’s 46 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (55th percentile); Senate Democrats (59th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (63rd percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Schumer missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Schumer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (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 2013) 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.