Sen. Jon Tester’s 2015 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Montana
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Tester’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 Tester’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 their bills out of committee the 4th most often compared to Senate DemocratsMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Tester introduced 6 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 35: Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa …; S. 242: Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act …; S. 434: Security Clearance Accountability, Reform, and …; S. 1419: Native Language Immersion Student Achievement …; S. 1580: Competitive Service Act of 2015; S. 2169: A bill to amend title … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (60th percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 7th most often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembsGovTrack looked at whether Tester supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Tester 4 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Tester sponsored S. 366: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act Tester cosponsored S. 229: Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (80th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 8th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 178 bills that Tester cosponsored, 47% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (92nd percentile); Senate Democrats (84th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (92nd percentile); All Senators (92nd 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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Ranked 8th 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Tester’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (40th percentile); Senate Democrats (82nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); All Senators (37th percentile). |
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Was 9th most present in votes compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 2 others)Tester missed 0.3% of votes (1 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Tester’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); All Senators (17th percentile). |
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Introduced the 12th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)Tester introduced 46 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (75th percentile); Senate Democrats (84th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); All Senators (85th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedTester introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. 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). 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. |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Tester’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. 366: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 1580: Competitive Service Act of 2015; S. 1676: Delivering Opportunities for Care and … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (28th percentile); Senate Democrats (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile). |
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Working with the HouseThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 35: Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa …; S. 603: Rural Veterans Travel Enhancement Act …; S. 865: Ruth Moore Act of 2015; S. 1302: Parental Bereavement Act of 2015; S. 1426: Physical Therapist Workforce and Patient …; S. 1580: Competitive Service Act of 2015; S. 1745: Extracurricular Programs for Indian Children …; S. 2134: Grow Our Own Directive: Physician …; S.Con.Res. 2: A concurrent resolution authorizing the … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (53rd percentile); Senate Democrats (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsTester tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 26% of Tester’s 46 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (30th percentile); Senate Democrats (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); All Senators (38th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Committee PositionsTester 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 Tester’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (59th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43rd percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredTester cosponsored 178 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 (63rd percentile); Senate Democrats (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); All Senators (64th percentile). |
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CosponsorsTester’s bills and resolutions had 170 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 (48th percentile); Senate Democrats (64th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); All Senators (63rd 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Tester’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (33rd percentile); Senate Democrats (55th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); All Senators (44th 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.
