Sen. David Perdue’s 2016 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Georgia
Republican
Served Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2021
These statistics cover Perdue’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.
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 Perdue’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 fewest bills compared to Senate Freshmen (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 1744: Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Land Adjustment …; S. 2513: Accurate Accounting Act of 2016 Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); All Senators (2nd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Held the most committee positions compared to Senate Freshmen (tied with 1 other)Perdue 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. 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 Perdue’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (22nd percentile); All Senators (21st percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Senate FreshmenOf the 234 bills that Perdue cosponsored, 17% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (24th percentile); All Senators (13th 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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Introduced the 6th fewest bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Perdue introduced 15 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (9th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile). |
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Got the 6th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Perdue’s bills and resolutions had 48 cosponsors in the 114th 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 Freshmen (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (9th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile). |
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Ranked the 7th bottom/follower compared to All SenatorsOur 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 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Perdue’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (9th percentile); All Senators (6th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 7th fewest bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 3 of Perdue’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (9th percentile); All Senators (6th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 9th least often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 6 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Perdue introduced 3 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 3318: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Accountability …; S.Res. 383: A resolution recognizing the importance …; S.Res. 501: A resolution expressing the sense … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (15th percentile); All Senators (31st percentile). |
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Laws EnactedPerdue introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th 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. 2781: Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (15th percentile); All Senators (15th 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 Cosponsors0 of Perdue’s bills and resolutions in the 114th 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. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredPerdue cosponsored 234 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 Freshmen (69th percentile); Senate Republicans (63rd percentile); All Senators (43rd percentile). |
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Missed VotesPerdue missed 1.6% of votes (8 of 502 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Perdue’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (69th percentile); All Senators (47th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Perdue supported any of 22 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Perdue 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (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 the 114th Congress) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
