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Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s 2018 Report Card

Senior Senator from California
Democrat
Serving Nov 10, 1992 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Feinstein’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare her 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 Feinstein’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 their bills out of committee the 3rd most often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Feinstein introduced 22 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 32: California Desert Protection and Recreation …; S. 274: A bill to nullify the …; S. 534: Protecting Young Victims from Sexual …; S. 1768: National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program …; S. 2773: Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction …; S. 2838: Using Data to Prevent Opioid …; S. 3001: Contra Costa Canal Transfer Act; S.Res. 147: A resolution commemorating the 25th …; S.Res. 192: A resolution congratulating the Golden …; S.Res. 209: A resolution commemorating the 40th …; S.Res. 248: A resolution expressing the sense …; S.Res. 249: A resolution designating September 2017 …; S.Res. 267: A resolution designating September 2017 …; S.Res. 385: A resolution supporting the observation …; S.Res. 398: A resolution supporting the observation …; S.Res. 438: A resolution commemorating the 150th …; S.Res. 448: A resolution designating March 2018 …; S.Res. 550: A resolution congratulating the Golden …; S.Res. 612: A resolution designating September 2018 …; S.Res. 630: A resolution celebrating the tenth …; S.Res. 632: A resolution designating September 2018 …; S.Res. 717: A resolution honoring the life …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); All Senators (86th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Feinstein cosponsored 490 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 Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); Senate Democrats (79th percentile); All Senators (90th percentile).

 

Was 6th most absent in votes compared to All Senators

Feinstein missed 6.2% of votes (37 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Feinstein’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); All Senators (94th percentile).

 

Got the 8th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Feinstein’s bills and resolutions had 596 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 Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); All Senators (92nd percentile).

 

Ranked the 13th top leader compared to All Senators

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 Feinstein’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (87th percentile); All Senators (87th percentile).

 

Ranked 15th most politically left compared to All Senators

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 Feinstein’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); Senate Democrats (28th percentile); All Senators (14th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 14th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 8 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Feinstein supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Feinstein 5 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Feinstein cosponsored S. 210: Global Health, Empowerment and Rights …; S. 298: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 1989: Honest Ads Act; S.Res. 323: STOP Sexual Harassment Resolution; S. 2236: Congressional Harassment Reform Act

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (62nd percentile); All Senators (78th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 18th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 18 of Feinstein’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. 30: Extending Justice for Sex Crime …; S. 31: West Coast Ocean Protection Act …; S. 357: Santa Ana River Wash Plan …; S. 611: Homeless Children and Youth Act …; S. 731: Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage …; S. 897: Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act …; S. 1034: Agricultural Worker Program Act of …; S. 1307: Affordable Health Insurance for the …; S. 1916: Automatic Gunfire Prevention Act; S. 1993: Rim of the Valley Corridor …; S. 2006: Breast Density and Mammography Reporting …; S. 2773: Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction …; S. 2881: A bill to direct the …; S.Res. 192: A resolution congratulating the Golden …; S.Res. 208: A resolution expressing the sense …; S.Res. 248: A resolution expressing the sense …; S.Res. 550: A resolution congratulating the Golden …; S.Res. 630: A resolution celebrating the tenth …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); Senate Democrats (64th percentile); All Senators (78th percentile).

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

Introduced the 21st most bills compared to All Senators

Feinstein introduced 67 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); Senate Democrats (68th percentile); All Senators (79th percentile).

 

Wrote the 23rd fewest laws compared to All Senators (tied with 13 others)

Feinstein introduced 2 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. 534: Protecting Young Victims from Sexual …; S. 1768: National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); Senate Democrats (28th percentile); All Senators (22nd 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.
 

Powerful Cosponsors

8 of Feinstein’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. 31: West Coast Ocean Protection Act …; S. 232: A bill to terminate the …; S. 534: Protecting Young Victims from Sexual …; S. 1276: Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act; S. 2838: Using Data to Prevent Opioid …; S.Res. 385: A resolution supporting the observation …; S.Res. 612: A resolution designating September 2018 …; S.Res. 717: A resolution honoring the life …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); Senate Democrats (66th percentile); All Senators (69th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 27 of Feinstein’s 67 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Feinstein caucused with in the 115th Congress.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); Senate Democrats (66th percentile); All Senators (68th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Feinstein held a leadership position on 1 committee and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Feinstein’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); Senate Democrats (62nd percentile); All Senators (66th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 490 bills that Feinstein cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); Senate Democrats (43rd percentile); All Senators (54th percentile).

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

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.