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Sen. Jefferson “Jeff” Sessions’s 2013 Report Card

Junior Senator from Alabama
Republican
Served Jan 7, 1997 – Feb 8, 2017

These year-end statistics cover Sessions’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him 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 Sessions’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 Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 0 of Sessions’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.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

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

Held the most committee positions compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)

Sessions held a leadership position on 1 committee and 3 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 Sessions’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); All Senators (94th percentile).

 

Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)

Sessions introduced 4 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (2nd percentile); Senate Republicans (7th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); All Senators (5th percentile).

 

Got the 5th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Sessions’s bills and resolutions had 26 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (10th percentile); Senate Republicans (16th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); All Senators (10th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 6th fewest bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Sessions cosponsored 97 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 (12th percentile); Senate Republicans (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); All Senators (21st percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Sessions 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Sessions introduced 0 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

0 of Sessions’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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 97 bills that Sessions cosponsored, 33% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (63rd percentile); Senate Republicans (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (62nd percentile); All Senators (65th percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Sessions missed 1.0% of votes (3 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Sessions’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (39th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); All Senators (38th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Sessions supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Sessions 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 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.