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Sen. John “Jay” Rockefeller’s 2013 Report Card

Senior Senator from West Virginia
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 1985 – Jan 3, 2015

These year-end statistics cover Rockefeller’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 Rockefeller’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 9th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats

Rockefeller cosponsored 99 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 (15th percentile); Senate Democrats (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); All Senators (25th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th lowest % of bills compared to Senate Democrats

Rockefeller tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 22% of Rockefeller’s 32 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (30th percentile); Senate Democrats (18th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (30th percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 15th least often compared to All Senators

Of the 99 bills that Rockefeller cosponsored, 14% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (15th percentile); Senate Democrats (27th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); All Senators (14th percentile).

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

Was 22nd most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Rockefeller missed 3.4% of votes (10 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Rockefeller’s Profile »

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

 

Laws Enacted

Rockefeller 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 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.
 

Bills Introduced

Rockefeller introduced 32 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (66th percentile); Senate Democrats (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); All Senators (72nd percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Rockefeller introduced 4 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 134: Violent Content Research Act of …; S. 267: Pirate Fishing Elimination Act; S. 269: International Fisheries Stewardship and Enforcement …; S. 1353: Cybersecurity Act of 2013

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (59th percentile); Senate Democrats (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Rockefeller’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. 21: Cybersecurity and American Cyber Competitiveness …; S. 805: Robert C. Byrd Mine and …; S. 1353: Cybersecurity Act of 2013

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (46th percentile); Senate Democrats (49th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); All Senators (61st percentile).

 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 of Rockefeller’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. 348: Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention and …; S. 411: Short Line Railroad Rehabilitation and …; S. 468: CARE Act; S. 740: Medicare Drug Savings Act of …; S. 1286: Medicaid Information Technology to Enhance …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (34th percentile); Senate Democrats (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); All Senators (43rd percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Rockefeller 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 Rockefeller’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); All Senators (64th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Rockefeller’s bills and resolutions had 147 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 (56th percentile); Senate Democrats (47th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile).

 

Ideology Score

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 Rockefeller’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (32nd percentile); Senate Democrats (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (29th 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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Rockefeller’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (63rd percentile); Senate Democrats (49th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); All Senators (66th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

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

Rockefeller cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (51st percentile); 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.