Stabenow is the senior senator from Michigan and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 3, 2001. Stabenow is next up for reelection in 2024.
She is also Senate Democratic Policy & Communications Committee Chair, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.
She was previously the representative for Michigan’s 8th congressional district as a Democrat from 1997 to 2000.
![Photo of Sen. Debbie Stabenow [D-MI]](/static/legislator-photos/300093-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Stabenow.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Stabenow is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Stabenow has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Nov 12, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Debbie Stabenow sits on the following committees:
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Ranking Member,
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry, and Natural Resources
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Livestock, Marketing, and Agriculture Security
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Nutrition, Agricultural Research, and Specialty Crops
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy
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Senate Committee on Finance
- Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Health Care
- Member, Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness
- Joint Committee on Taxation
- Senate Committee on the Budget
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Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Member, Subcommittee on Energy
- Member, Subcommittee on National Parks
- Member, Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining
Enacted Legislation
Stabenow was the primary sponsor of 12 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 2553: Know the Lowest Price Act of 2018
- S. 3053 (115th): CHIP Mental Health and Addiction Parity Act
- S. 2239: Veterans Deserve Better Act
- S. 538: Timber Innovation Act of 2017
- S. 408 (114th): Empowering Jobs Act of 2015
- S. 1603 (113th): Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act
- S. 3552 (112th): Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2012
Does 12 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Stabenow sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (40%) Taxation (23%) Environmental Protection (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Social Welfare (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Stabenow’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S.Res. 341: A resolution designating September 2019 as “National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month”.
- S. 2423: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for purposes of ...
- S. 2295: GLRI Act of 2019
- S.Res. 276: A resolution designating July 15, 2019, as “National Leiomyosarcoma Awareness Day” and the ...
- S. 2001: Willie O’Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act
- S. 1960: Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act
- S. 1946: Student Veterans Housing Act of 2019
View All » | View Cosponsors »
As Senate Democratic Policy & Communications Committee Chair, Stabenow may be focused on her responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting her party, and brokering deals.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2001 to Nov 2019, Stabenow missed 63 of 5,905 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is better than the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
