Sen. Edward “Ed” Markey’s 2017 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Massachusetts
Democrat
Serving Jul 16, 2013 – Jan 3, 2027
These year-end statistics cover Markey’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.
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 Markey’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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Ranked 4th most politically left compared to All SenatorsOur 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Markey’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (4th percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 4th least often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Markey introduced 1 bill in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S.Res. 83: A resolution expressing the sense … Compare to all Senate Democrats (7th percentile); All Senators (4th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 7th most bills compared to All SenatorsMarkey cosponsored 311 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 Democrats (85th percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 7th least often compared to Senate DemocratsOf the 311 bills that Markey cosponsored, 20% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (13th percentile); All Senators (24th 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 bicameral support on the 8th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 200: Restricting First Use of Nuclear …; S. 574: Nuclear Cruise Missile Reconsideration Act …; S. 708: INTERDICT Act; S. 752: Tar Sands Tax Loophole Elimination …; S. 834: A bill to authorize the …; S. 985: A bill to prohibit the …; S. 1235: Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures …; S. 1568: President John F. Kennedy Commemorative …; S. 1807: Climate Change Health Protection and …; S. 1906: A bill to posthumously award …; S. 2020: Cyber Shield Act of 2017; S.Res. 10: A resolution expressing the sense …; S.Res. 83: A resolution expressing the sense …; S.Res. 180: A resolution condemning the violence …; S.Con.Res. 18: A concurrent resolution honoring David … Compare to all Senate Democrats (89th percentile); All Senators (90th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got the 15th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsMarkey’s bills and resolutions had 278 cosponsors in 2017. 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 Democrats (78th percentile); All Senators (85th percentile). |
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Introduced the 17th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Markey introduced 42 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (78th percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile). |
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Held the 12th fewest committee positions compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 12 others)Markey 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 Markey’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (24th percentile); All Senators (20th percentile). |
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Was 24th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 18 others)Markey missed 0.3% of votes (1 of 325 votes) in 2017. View Markey’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (23rd percentile). |
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Laws EnactedMarkey introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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 Cosponsors3 of Markey’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 708: INTERDICT Act; S. 820: A bill to designate a …; S. 834: A bill to authorize the … Compare to all Senate Democrats (41st percentile); All Senators (45th percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 8 of Markey’s 42 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017. Compare to all Senate Democrats (43rd percentile); All Senators (47th percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Markey’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (59th percentile); All Senators (57th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Markey supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Markey 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Senate Democrats (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 2017) 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.
