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Sen. John F. “Jack” Reed’s 2013 Report Card

Senior Senator from Rhode Island
Democrat
Serving Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2027

These year-end statistics cover Reed’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 Reed’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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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Serving 10+ Years

Of the 113 bills that Reed cosponsored, 12% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (10th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); All Senators (5th percentile).

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

Got the 9th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Reed’s bills and resolutions had 273 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 Democrats (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile).

 

Ranked 10th most politically left compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 Reed’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (32nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (16th percentile); All Senators (18th percentile).

 

Ranked the 11th top leader compared to All Senators

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 Reed’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (79th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); All Senators (89th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 11th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Reed introduced 7 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 349: Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Protection Act; S. 371: Blackstone River Valley National Historical …; S. 953: Student Loan Affordability Act; S. 1238: Keep Student Loans Affordable Act …; S. 1593: Servicemember Housing Protection Act of …; S. 1797: Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act …; S. 1845: Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act

Compare to all Senate Democrats (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile).

 

Introduced the 16th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Reed introduced 38 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile).

 

Was 17th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 13 others)

Reed missed 0.3% of votes (1 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Reed’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (16th percentile); All Senators (16th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Reed 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 Democrats (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.
 

Powerful Cosponsors

0 of Reed’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 Democrats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 8 of Reed’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. 527: Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act …; S. 713: Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act; S. 909: Responsible Student Loan Solutions Act; S. 1062: Educator Preparation Reform Act; S. 1063: Effective Teaching and Leading Act; S. 1238: Keep Student Loans Affordable Act …; S. 1306: No Child Left Inside Act …; S. 1747: Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act …

Compare to all Senate Democrats (60th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (67th percentile).

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

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Reed tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 34% of Reed’s 38 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); All Senators (55th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Reed 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 Reed’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (23rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); All Senators (18th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Reed cosponsored 113 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 (32nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (35th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Reed supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Reed 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Reed cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Compare to all Senate Democrats (32nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); All Senators (47th 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.