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Sen. John “Johnny” Isakson’s 2015 Report Card

Senior Senator from Georgia
Republican
Served Jan 4, 2005 – Dec 31, 2019

These year-end statistics cover Isakson’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 Isakson’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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Held the 3rd most committee positions compared to All Senators

Isakson held a leadership position on 2 committees and 1 subcommittee, 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 Isakson’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile).

 

Ranked 5th most politically right compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

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 Isakson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (88th percentile); Senate Republicans (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 6th most bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)

Isakson cosponsored 180 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 (65th percentile); Senate Republicans (87th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65th percentile); All Senators (66th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 10th highest % of bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 2 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 43% of Isakson’s 28 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Senate Republicans (68th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); All Senators (75th percentile).

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

Got their bills out of committee the 14th least often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 5 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Isakson introduced 2 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 1347: Electronic Health Fairness Act of …; S. 1493: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (30th percentile); Senate Republicans (24th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); All Senators (43rd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Isakson introduced 2 bills 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. 2082: Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring …; S. 2351: Securing Fairness in Regulatory Timing …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Senate Republicans (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (83rd 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

Isakson introduced 28 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (35th percentile); Senate Republicans (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (44th percentile); All Senators (56th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Isakson’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. 150: Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act; S. 801: Representation Fairness Restoration Act; S. 1493: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act …

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

 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 7 of Isakson’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. 275: Medicare Home Infusion Site of …; S. 849: Advancing Research for Neurological Diseases …; S. 1317: Lifetime Income Disclosure Act; S. 1347: Electronic Health Fairness Act of …; S. 2024: Fort Frederica National Monument Boundary …; S. 2351: Securing Fairness in Regulatory Timing …; S. 2396: A bill to designate the …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (35th percentile); Senate Republicans (52nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Senators (45th percentile).

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

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 180 bills that Isakson cosponsored, 20% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (26th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (28th percentile); Senate Republicans (48th percentile); All Senators (28th percentile).

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

Cosponsors

Isakson’s bills and resolutions had 138 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 (30th percentile); Senate Republicans (48th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (35th percentile); All Senators (44th 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 Isakson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (48th percentile); Senate Republicans (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (59th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Isakson missed 0.9% of votes (3 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Isakson’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 Isakson supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Isakson 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.