Sen. Joe Manchin’s 2019 Report Card
Senate Democratic Policy & Communications Committee Vice Chair
Senior
Senator
from West Virginia
Democrat
Serving Nov 15, 2010 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Manchin’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.
Members of Congress with party leadership roles often do not participate in the legislative process in the same way as other Members of Congress. Since Manchin was busy being Senate Democratic Policy & Communications Committee Vice Chair, the metrics of legislative activity listed below may not apply.
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 Manchin’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 Democrats (tied with 1 other)Manchin cosponsored 190 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 (2nd percentile); All Senators (36th percentile). |
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Ranked 3rd most politically right compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Manchin’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (93rd percentile); All Senators (47th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 4th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 190 bills that Manchin cosponsored, 56% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (96th percentile); All Senators (96th 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 5th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 425: Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment …; S. 1081: Land and Water Conservation Fund …; S. 1415: Bipartisan Disaster Recovery Funding Act …; S. 2995: Improving Safety and Security for …; S. 3147: Improving Safety and Security for … Compare to all Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (20th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Laws EnactedManchin introduced 2 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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. 27: American Miners Act of 2019; S. 2788: Bipartisan American Miners Act of … Compare to all Senate Democrats (58th percentile); All Senators (51st 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 IntroducedManchin introduced 39 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (42nd percentile); All Senators (61st percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Manchin introduced 9 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 27: American Miners Act of 2019; S. 1052: Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal …; S. 1064: Appalachian Energy for National Security …; S. 1081: Land and Water Conservation Fund …; S. 1201: EFFECT Act of 2019; S. 2788: Bipartisan American Miners Act of …; S. 3147: Improving Safety and Security for …; S.Res. 350: A resolution designating September 2019 …; S.Res. 423: A resolution recognizing November 2019 … Compare to all Senate Democrats (73rd percentile); All Senators (67th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors4 of Manchin’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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. 1052: Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal …; S. 1201: EFFECT Act of 2019; S. 2062: A bill to prohibit the …; S.Res. 18: A resolution authorizing the Senate … Compare to all Senate Democrats (29th percentile); All Senators (42nd percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 19 of Manchin’s 39 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Manchin caucused with in 2019. Compare to all Senate Democrats (62nd percentile); All Senators (63rd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Committee PositionsManchin held a leadership position on 1 committee and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Manchin’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (60th percentile); All Senators (67th percentile). |
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CosponsorsManchin’s bills and resolutions had 223 cosponsors in 2019. 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 (36th percentile); All Senators (52nd 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Manchin’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (31st percentile); All Senators (45th percentile). |
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Missed VotesManchin missed 1.2% of votes (5 of 428 votes) in 2019. View Manchin’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (46th 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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
