Sen. Christopher Coons’s 2017 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Delaware
Democrat
Serving Nov 15, 2010 – Jan 3, 2027
These year-end statistics cover Coons’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.
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 Coons’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.
|
|
Got influential cosponsors the least often compared to Senate Democrats0 of Coons’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. Compare to all Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
|
|
Held the 6th most committee positions compared to All Senators (tied with 5 others)Coons held a leadership position on 1 committee and 2 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 Coons’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (89th percentile); All Senators (89th percentile). |
|
|
Got their bills out of committee the 8th most often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Coons introduced 8 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 650: Support Small Business R & …; S. 1107: Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017; S.Res. 18: A resolution reaffirming the United …; S.Res. 80: A resolution designating March 3, …; S.Res. 86: A resolution recognizing the contributions …; S.Res. 276: A resolution designating September 2017 …; S.Res. 289: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 301: A resolution designating the week … Compare to all Senate Democrats (80th percentile); All Senators (69th percentile). |
|
|
Cosponsored the 9th most bills compared to All SenatorsCoons cosponsored 297 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 (80th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
|
|
Ranked 10th most politically right compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Coons’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (78th percentile); All Senators (37th percentile). |
|
|
Joined bipartisan bills the 18th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 297 bills that Coons cosponsored, 38% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (76th percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
|
|
Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 17th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 5 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 14 of Coons’s 27 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017. Compare to all Senate Democrats (74th percentile); All Senators (78th percentile). |
|
|
Was 18th most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)Coons missed 3.1% of votes (10 of 325 votes) in 2017. View Coons’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (79th percentile). |
|
|
Laws EnactedCoons introduced 1 bill 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. View Enacted Bills » Those bills were: S. 1107: Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017 Compare to all Senate Democrats (65th percentile); All Senators (49th 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 IntroducedCoons introduced 27 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (48th percentile); All Senators (56th percentile). |
|
|
Working with the HouseThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 347: Investing in America’s Small Manufacturers …; S. 399: Chief Manufacturing Officer Act; S. 632: Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017; S. 650: Support Small Business R & …; S. 1293: Invent and Manufacture in America …; S. 1530: Medicare Choices Empowerment and Protection …; S. 2005: Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act; S. 2186: Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage …; S.Res. 86: A resolution recognizing the contributions …; S.Res. 266: A resolution reaffirming the United … Compare to all Senate Democrats (57th percentile); All Senators (69th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
|
|
CosponsorsCoons’s bills and resolutions had 135 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 Senate Democrats (33rd percentile); All Senators (45th percentile). |
|
|
Leadership ScoreOur 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Coons’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (48th percentile); All Senators (49th percentile). |
|
|
Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Coons supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Coons 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all 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.
