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Sen. James “Jim” Inhofe’s 2015 Report Card

Senior Senator from Oklahoma
Republican
Served Nov 17, 1994 – Jan 3, 2023

These year-end statistics cover Inhofe’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.

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 Inhofe’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 most politically right 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Inhofe’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (98th percentile); Senate Republicans (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); All Senators (99th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 3rd least often compared to All Senators

Of the 164 bills that Inhofe cosponsored, 12% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (3rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); Senate Republicans (4th percentile); All Senators (2nd percentile).

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

Got bicameral support on the 6th fewest bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Inhofe’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. 571: Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2; S. 1646: Technical Clarification to Public Law …; S.Res. 69: A resolution calling for the …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (13th percentile); Senate Republicans (20th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); All Senators (17th percentile).

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

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 6th lowest % of bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)

Inhofe tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 15% of Inhofe’s 26 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (14th percentile); Senate Republicans (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (16th percentile); All Senators (15th percentile).

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

Laws Enacted

Inhofe introduced 1 bill that became law in 2015. 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. 261: A bill to designate the …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (50th percentile); Senate Republicans (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Senators (59th percentile).

A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Introduced

Inhofe introduced 26 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (28th percentile); Senate Republicans (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Inhofe introduced 3 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 261: A bill to designate the …; S. 571: Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2; S. 1647: Developing a Reliable and Innovative …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (40th percentile); Senate Republicans (35th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Inhofe’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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. 291: Keep Our Communities Safe Act …; S. 1479: Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local …; S. 1647: Developing a Reliable and Innovative …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (28th percentile); Senate Republicans (46th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Inhofe held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Inhofe’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); All Senators (60th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Inhofe cosponsored 164 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (48th percentile); Senate Republicans (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); All Senators (50th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Inhofe’s bills and resolutions had 173 cosponsors in 2015. 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (53rd percentile); Senate Republicans (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); All Senators (66th percentile).

 

Leadership Score

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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Inhofe’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (60th percentile); Senate Republicans (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (67th percentile); All Senators (72nd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Inhofe missed 0.9% of votes (3 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Inhofe’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (28th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (37th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Inhofe supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Inhofe 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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 2015) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.