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 and serves until Jan 3, 2025.
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 2020 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 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 3, 2017 to Feb 22, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Debbie Stabenow sits on the following committees:
- Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Ranking Member
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Senate Committee on Finance
- Health Care subcommittee Ranking Member
International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness subcommittees - Joint Committee on Taxation
- Senate Committee on the Budget
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Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Enacted Legislation
Stabenow was the primary sponsor of 14 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 2295 (116th): GLRI Act of 2019
- S. 1268 (116th): PACT Act
- S. 2553 (115th): Know the Lowest Price Act of 2018
- S. 3053 (115th): CHIP Mental Health and Addiction Parity Act
- S. 2239 (115th): Veterans Deserve Better Act
- S. 538 (115th): Timber Innovation Act of 2017
- S. 408 (114th): Empowering Jobs Act of 2015
Does 14 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 (39%) Taxation (17%) Agriculture and Food (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (10%) Environmental Protection (10%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (5%) Education (5%) Social Welfare (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Stabenow’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 363: A bill to amend chapter 83 of title 41, United States Code, to ...
- S.Res. 52: An original resolution authorizing expenditures by the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
- S.Res. 727 (116th): A resolution designating September 2020 as “National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month”.
- S. 4584 (116th): A bill to amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to modify ...
- S. 4451 (116th): Rural Forest Markets Act of 2020
- S. 4453 (116th): Food Supply Protection Act of 2020
- S.Res. 656 (116th): A resolution recognizing the importance of the blueberry industry to the United ...
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 Feb 2021, Stabenow missed 90 of 6,333 roll call votes, which is 1.4%. This is on par with 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
