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Sen. Cory Gardner’s 2018 Report Card

Junior Senator from Colorado
Republican
Served Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2021

These statistics cover Gardner’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 Gardner’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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Got bicameral support on the 2nd most bills compared to Senate Sophomores

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 15 of Gardner’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. 218: Social Security Fraud Prevention Act …; S. 239: Energy Savings Through Public-Private Partnerships …; S. 285: Bolts Ditch Access and Use …; S. 287: A bill to update the …; S. 660: Native American Indian Education Act; S. 1007: Bureau of Land Management Headquarters …; S. 1518: CHANCE in TECH Act; S. 1901: LEED Act; S. 2168: Veterans Improved Access and Care …; S. 2780: A bill to require a …; S. 2868: Law Enforcement Protection Act; S. 2870: Amache Study Act; S. 3282: DEA Order Clearinghouse Act of …; S. 3613: Mancos Water Conservancy District Conveyance …; S. 3727: Good Samaritan Remediation of Orphan …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (78th percentile); All Senators (69th percentile).

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

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2nd most bills compared to Senate Sophomores

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 35 of Gardner’s 53 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Gardner caucused with in the 115th Congress.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (78th percentile); All Senators (80th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Introduced the 3rd most bills compared to Senate Sophomores

Gardner introduced 53 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (77th percentile); Senate Republicans (72nd percentile); All Senators (64th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 3rd most often compared to Senate Sophomores

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Gardner introduced 15 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 190: Power And Security Systems (PASS) …; S. 218: Social Security Fraud Prevention Act …; S. 239: Energy Savings Through Public-Private Partnerships …; S. 280: Crags, Colorado Land Exchange Act; S. 285: Bolts Ditch Access and Use …; S. 286: Elkhorn Ranch and White River …; S. 287: A bill to update the …; S. 931: A bill to designate the …; S. 1059: Responsible Disposal Reauthorization Act of …; S. 1336: RIVER Act; S. 1901: LEED Act; S. 2166: Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension …; S. 2736: Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of …; S. 2870: Amache Study Act; S.Res. 475: A resolution commemorating the 60th …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (77th percentile); Senate Republicans (58th percentile); All Senators (69th percentile).

 

Ranked 4th most politically left compared to Senate Sophomores

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 Gardner’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (28th percentile); All Senators (64th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 5th most bills compared to Senate Republicans

Gardner cosponsored 272 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 Sophomores (77th percentile); Senate Republicans (90th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 5th most often compared to Senate Republicans

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 272 bills that Gardner cosponsored, 40% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (90th percentile); All Senators (85th percentile).

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

Supported government transparency the 6th most often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 5 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Gardner supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Gardner 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Gardner cosponsored S. 1189: Close the Revolving Door Act …; S. 2236: Congressional Harassment Reform Act

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (62nd percentile); Senate Republicans (78th percentile); All Senators (42nd percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 14th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 10 others)

3 of Gardner’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. 190: Power And Security Systems (PASS) …; S. 2780: A bill to require a …; S. 3406: Taiwan Allies International Protection and …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (20th percentile); All Senators (13th percentile).

 

Was 14th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 11 others)

Gardner missed 0.3% of votes (2 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Gardner’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); All Senators (13th percentile).

 

Wrote the 19th most laws compared to All Senators (tied with 5 others)

Gardner introduced 6 bills 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. 190: Power And Security Systems (PASS) …; S. 218: Social Security Fraud Prevention Act …; S. 286: Elkhorn Ranch and White River …; S. 931: A bill to designate the …; S. 2736: Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of …; S. 2870: Amache Study Act

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (69th percentile); Senate Republicans (60th percentile); All Senators (76th 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.
 

Got the 22nd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Gardner’s bills and resolutions had 153 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 Sophomores (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (24th percentile); All Senators (21st percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Gardner 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 Gardner’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (16th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile).

 

Leadership Score

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 Gardner’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (26th percentile); All Senators (27th 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 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.