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Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer’s 2017 Report Card

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

These year-end statistics cover Schumer’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.

Members of Congress with party leadership roles often do not participate in the legislative process in the same way as other Members of Congress. Since Schumer was busy being Senate Majority Leader, the metrics of legislative activity listed below may not apply.

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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Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats

Schumer cosponsored 123 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 Serving 10+ Years (27th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (26th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 0 of Schumer’s 6 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

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

 

Held the fewest committee positions compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)

Schumer held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, 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 Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)

Schumer introduced 6 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); Senate Democrats (2nd percentile); All Senators (4th percentile).

 

Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Schumer’s bills and resolutions had 55 cosponsors in 2017. 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 Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (11th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 3rd fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 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. 910: Disability Integration Act of 2017

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); Senate Democrats (4th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile).

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

Got their bills out of committee the 8th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 3 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Schumer introduced 3 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 1668: A bill to rename a …; S.Res. 8: A resolution to constitute the …; S.Res. 17: A resolution to constitute the …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); Senate Democrats (28th percentile); All Senators (24th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Schumer introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

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

Powerful Cosponsors

1 of Schumer’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 1376: No Hearing, No Vote Act …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); Senate Democrats (2nd percentile); All Senators (8th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 123 bills that Schumer cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (58th percentile); Senate Democrats (52nd percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Schumer missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 325 votes) in 2017. View Schumer’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

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 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (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 2017) 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.