Sen. Christopher Murphy’s 2017 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Connecticut
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Murphy’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 Murphy’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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Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Senate DemocratsOf the 172 bills that Murphy cosponsored, 17% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (16th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Got their bills out of committee the 4th least often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Murphy introduced 1 bill in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 617: Lower Farmington River and Salmon … Compare to all Senate Democrats (7th percentile); All Senators (4th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 5th 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. 3 of Murphy’s 22 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017. Compare to all Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (13th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 8th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 6 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 835: Supreme Court Ethics Act of …; S. 1406: A bill to amend title …; S. 1805: Century Farms Act of 2017; S. 1979: A bill to block the …; S.J.Res. 40: A joint resolution to provide … Compare to all Senate Democrats (15th percentile); All Senators (26th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Introduced the 11th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Murphy introduced 22 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (22nd percentile); All Senators (34th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 11th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Murphy cosponsored 172 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 (22nd percentile); All Senators (59th percentile). |
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Ranked 12th most politically left compared to All SenatorsOur 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 Murphy’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (22nd percentile); All Senators (11th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedMurphy 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 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. |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Murphy’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. 699: Honor Our Commitment Act of …; S. 1979: A bill to block the …; S. 2009: Background Check Expansion Act Compare to all Senate Democrats (41st percentile); All Senators (45th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsMurphy held a leadership position on 0 committees and 3 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Murphy’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (52nd percentile); All Senators (54th percentile). |
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CosponsorsMurphy’s bills and resolutions had 167 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 (46th percentile); All Senators (61st percentile). |
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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 Murphy’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (30th percentile); All Senators (29th percentile). |
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Missed VotesMurphy missed 0.6% of votes (2 of 325 votes) in 2017. View Murphy’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (42nd percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Murphy supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Murphy 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Murphy cosponsored S. 2159: ME TOO Congress Act Compare to all Senate Democrats (41st percentile); All Senators (54th 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.
