Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s 2013 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from North Dakota
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2019
These year-end statistics cover Heitkamp’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare her to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.
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 Heitkamp’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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Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Senate DemocratsHeitkamp introduced 3 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (13th percentile); Senate Democrats (2nd percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd most often compared to Senate DemocratsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 101 bills that Heitkamp cosponsored, 39% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (92nd percentile); Senate Democrats (96th percentile); All Senators (70th 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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Was 3rd most absent in votes compared to Senate FreshmenHeitkamp missed 3.8% of votes (11 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Heitkamp’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (80th percentile); All Senators (79th percentile). |
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Got the 9th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate DemocratsHeitkamp’s bills and resolutions had 48 cosponsors in 2013. 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 Freshmen (53rd percentile); Senate Democrats (15th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 10th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Heitkamp cosponsored 101 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 Freshmen (47th percentile); Senate Democrats (17th percentile); All Senators (26th percentile). |
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Held the 9th fewest committee positions compared to All Senators (tied with 9 others)Heitkamp held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, 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 Heitkamp’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (40th percentile); Senate Democrats (11th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedHeitkamp introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Heitkamp introduced 0 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors0 of Heitkamp’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Working with the HouseThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Heitkamp supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Heitkamp 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); 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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
