Sen. Doug Jones’s 2019 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Alabama
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2018 – Jan 3, 2021
These year-end statistics cover Jones’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.
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 Jones’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 Sophomores (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 68: Smart Choices Act; S. 222: Back Pay Fairness Act of …; S. 566: Expanding Access to Capital for …; S. 1279: FUTURE Act; S. 2927: NIMHD Research Endowment Revitalization Act … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (20th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Held the fewest committee positions compared to Senate Sophomores (tied with 1 other)Jones held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 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 Jones’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Ranked 2nd most politically right compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Jones’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (60th percentile); Senate Democrats (96th percentile); All Senators (50th percentile). |
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Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Senate Sophomores (tied with 1 other)Jones introduced 29 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (10th percentile); Senate Democrats (24th percentile); All Senators (45th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 6th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 324 bills that Jones cosponsored, 50% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (90th percentile); Senate Democrats (93rd percentile); All Senators (94th 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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Got influential cosponsors the 5th least often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 3 others)2 of Jones’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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. 622: Military Widow’s Tax Elimination Act …; S.Res. 160: A resolution recognizing the contributions … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (20th percentile); Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (21st percentile). |
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Got the 7th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate DemocratsJones’s bills and resolutions had 162 cosponsors in 2019. 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 (30th percentile); Senate Democrats (13th percentile); All Senators (34th percentile). |
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Ranked the 11th bottom/follower compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Jones’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (40th percentile); Senate Democrats (22nd percentile); All Senators (40th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 24th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 8 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Jones introduced 4 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 622: Military Widow’s Tax Elimination Act …; S. 2927: NIMHD Research Endowment Revitalization Act …; S.Res. 160: A resolution recognizing the contributions …; S.Res. 332: A resolution instructing the managers … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (40th percentile); Senate Democrats (27th percentile); All Senators (23rd percentile). |
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Laws EnactedJones introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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. 622: Military Widow’s Tax Elimination Act … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (20th percentile); Senate Democrats (20th percentile); All Senators (20th 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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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 17 of Jones’s 29 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Jones caucused with in 2019. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (40th percentile); Senate Democrats (51st percentile); All Senators (55th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Bills CosponsoredJones cosponsored 324 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 (40th percentile); Senate Democrats (42nd percentile); All Senators (72nd percentile). |
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Missed VotesJones missed 2.8% of votes (12 of 428 votes) in 2019. View Jones’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (70th percentile); All Senators (69th 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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
