Sen. James Lankford’s 2018 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Oklahoma
Republican
Serving Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2029
These statistics cover Lankford’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him 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 Lankford’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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Cosponsored the 2nd fewest bills compared to Senate SophomoresLankford cosponsored 185 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 (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (38th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 3rd most often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)GovTrack looked at whether Lankford supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Lankford 5 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Lankford sponsored S. 333: Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act … Lankford cosponsored S. 2178: Inspector General Recommendation Transparency Act …; S. 3027: Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (92nd percentile); All Senators (78th percentile). |
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Ranked 8th most politically right 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 the 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Lankford’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (69th percentile); Senate Republicans (84th percentile); All Senators (92nd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 15th least often compared to All SenatorsOf the 185 bills that Lankford cosponsored, 21% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (24th percentile); All Senators (14th 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 bipartisan cosponsors on the 17th fewest bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 11 of Lankford’s 31 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Lankford caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (16th percentile); All Senators (16th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Got the 18th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsLankford’s bills and resolutions had 142 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 Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (20th percentile); All Senators (17th percentile). |
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Was 14th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 11 others)Lankford missed 0.3% of votes (2 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Lankford’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); All Senators (13th percentile). |
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Ranked the 25th bottom/follower compared to All SenatorsOur 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 Lankford’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (24th percentile); All Senators (24th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 25th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 15 others)4 of Lankford’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. 317: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act; S. 1512: Transparency and Honesty in Energy …; S. 2261: Secure Elections Act; S. 2593: Secure Elections Act Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (28th percentile); All Senators (24th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedLankford introduced 3 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. 1648: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2018; S. 1887: Direct Hire of Students and …; S. 3675: A bill to amend the … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (28th percentile); All Senators (36th 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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Bills IntroducedLankford introduced 31 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (38th percentile); Senate Republicans (32nd percentile); All Senators (26th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Lankford introduced 12 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 317: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act; S. 577: Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act …; S. 579: Early Participation in Regulations Act …; S. 584: Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements …; S. 1648: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2018; S. 1886: Temporary and Term Appointments Act …; S. 1887: Direct Hire of Students and …; S. 1888: Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment Adjustment …; S. 3107: Financial Services and General Government …; S. 3484: Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements …; S. 3675: A bill to amend the …; S.Res. 355: A resolution improving procedures for … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (46th percentile); All Senators (57th percentile). |
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Working with the HouseThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 264: The Free Speech Fairness Act; S. 301: Conscience Protection Act of 2017; S. 577: Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act …; S. 578: BEST Act; S. 1133: Patient Access to Higher Quality …; S. 2123: Universal Charitable Giving Act of …; S. 2593: Secure Elections Act; S. 3332: LIFT for Charities Act; S. 3675: A bill to amend the …; S.Res. 647: A resolution calling for the …; S.J.Res. 4: A joint resolution disapproving the … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (52nd percentile); All Senators (44th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsLankford 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. View Lankford’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (16th percentile); All Senators (19th 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 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.
