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Sen. John Cornyn’s 2013 Report Card

Senate Minority Whip
Senior Senator from Texas
Republican
Serving Nov 30, 2002 – Jan 3, 2027

These year-end statistics cover Cornyn’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.

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 Cornyn was busy being Senate Minority Whip, 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 Cornyn’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 influential cosponsors the most often compared to Senate Republicans

7 of Cornyn’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.

Those bills were: S. 19: A bill to amend the …; S. 351: Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare …; S. 1001: Iran Export Embargo Act; S. 1013: Patent Abuse Reduction Act of …; S. 1728: Safeguarding Elections for our Nation’s …; S. 1783: Federal Prison Reform Act of …; S.J.Res. 7: A joint resolution proposing an …

Compare to all Senate Republicans (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); All Senators (92nd percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 2nd most bills compared to All Senators

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 16 of Cornyn’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. 80: SAFER Act of 2013; S. 178: Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of …; S. 350: Fair Access to Science and …; S. 351: Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare …; S. 725: Small Business Taxpayer Bill of …; S. 983: Keep the IRS Off Your …; S. 993: A bill to authorize and …; S. 1125: Working to Address Treaty Enforcement …; S. 1210: A PLUS Act; S. 1315: Keep the IRS Off Your …; S. 1316: Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare …; S. 1354: End Sex Trafficking Act of …; S. 1500: Honoring the Fort Hood Heroes …; S. 1620: Tax Transparency Act of 2013; S. 1738: Justice for Victims of Trafficking …; S. 1812: Emergency Port of Entry Personnel …

Compare to all Senate Republicans (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); All Senators (98th percentile).

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

Got the 2nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate Republicans

Cornyn’s bills and resolutions had 214 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 Republicans (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); All Senators (80th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 3rd most often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)

GovTrack looked at whether Cornyn supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Cornyn 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Cornyn cosponsored S. 405: Sunshine in the Courtroom Act …; S. 1207: Cameras in the Courtroom Act

Compare to all Senate Republicans (91st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); All Senators (74th percentile).

 

Introduced the 4th most bills compared to Senate Republicans

Cornyn introduced 33 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (91st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (64th percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile).

 

Ranked the 5th top leader compared to Senate Republicans

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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cornyn’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Republicans (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (68th percentile).

 

Ranked 12th 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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cornyn’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Republicans (73rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); All Senators (88th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Cornyn 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 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. Cornyn introduced 2 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 1315: Keep the IRS Off Your …; S. 1316: Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare …

Compare to all Senate Republicans (64th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Cornyn tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 21% of Cornyn’s 33 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Senate Republicans (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (28th percentile); All Senators (28th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Cornyn 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 Cornyn’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); All Senators (18th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Cornyn cosponsored 141 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 Republicans (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); All Senators (55th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 141 bills that Cornyn cosponsored, 35% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65th percentile); All Senators (67th percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Cornyn missed 1.7% of votes (5 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Cornyn’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); All Senators (54th 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.