Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s 2015 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from New York
Democrat
Serving Jan 27, 2009 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Gillibrand’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her 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 Gillibrand’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 4th most bills compared to All SenatorsGillibrand cosponsored 280 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 (93rd percentile); All Senators (96th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 8th least often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Of the 280 bills that Gillibrand cosponsored, 27% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (16th percentile); All Senators (51st 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 the 10th top leader compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 Gillibrand’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (77th percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). |
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Ranked 11th most politically left compared to All SenatorsOur 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 Gillibrand’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (20th percentile); All Senators (10th percentile). |
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Got the 11th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate DemocratsGillibrand’s bills and resolutions had 222 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 Democrats (75th percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 13th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 7 others)GovTrack looked at whether Gillibrand supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Gillibrand 4 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Gillibrand cosponsored S. 229: Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting …; S. 366: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 1176: EMPOWER Act of 2015; S. 1538: Fair Elections Now Act Compare to all Senate Democrats (70th percentile); All Senators (80th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 19th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 613: Summer Meals Act of 2015; S. 681: Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans …; S. 786: Family and Medical Insurance Leave …; S. 928: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and …; S. 968: Huntington’s Disease Parity Act of …; S. 1075: FIT Kids Act; S. 1183: STEM Gateways Act; S. 1184: Computer Science Career Education Act …; S. 1424: Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015; S. 1665: Child Sexual Abuse Awareness and …; S. 2088: A bill to designate the …; S. 2324: Flood Insurance Transparency and Accountability … Compare to all Senate Democrats (70th percentile); All Senators (77th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Was 18th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 7 others)Gillibrand missed 0.3% of votes (1 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Gillibrand’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (17th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 26th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 22 others)2 of Gillibrand’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. 928: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and …; S. 1382: Every Child Deserves a Family … Compare to all Senate Democrats (30th percentile); All Senators (25th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedGillibrand 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. 1424: Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015; S. 2088: A bill to designate the … Compare to all Senate Democrats (82nd 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. |
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Bills IntroducedGillibrand introduced 26 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (45th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Gillibrand introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsGillibrand tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 31% of Gillibrand’s 26 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Senate Democrats (57th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Committee PositionsGillibrand 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 Gillibrand’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (18th percentile); All Senators (21st 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.
