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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s 2019 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 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare her to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

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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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Serving 10+ Years

Of the 458 bills that Gillibrand cosponsored, 17% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); Senate Democrats (4th percentile); All Senators (4th percentile).

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

Ranked 3rd most politically left compared to All Senators

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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Gillibrand’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

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

 

Cosponsored the 3rd most bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Gillibrand cosponsored 458 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 Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (80th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 3rd least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 3 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Gillibrand introduced 3 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 347: A bill to designate the …; S. 546: Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent …; S. 1195: Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (10th percentile).

 

Was 8th most absent in votes compared to All Senators

Gillibrand missed 25.7% of votes (110 of 428 votes) in 2019. View Gillibrand’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); All Senators (92nd percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 13th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 19 of Gillibrand’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. 23: National Commission on the Federal …; S. 373: A bill to provide for …; S. 463: FAMILY Act; S. 511: Living Donor Protection Act of …; S. 522: African Burial Ground International Memorial …; S. 546: Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent …; S. 547: CLEAR Act; S. 549: Voter Empowerment Act of 2019; S. 665: Stop Underrides Act; S. 687: Taxpayer Penalty Protection Act of …; S. 724: John S. McCain Opioid Addiction …; S. 898: A bill to designate the …; S. 1203: What You Can Do For …; S. 1476: Huntington’s Disease Parity Act of …; S. 1837: PIPE Act; S. 2404: Build Local, Hire Local Act; S. 2611: End the Limo Loophole Act; S. 2704: Rebuild Rural America Act of …; S. 2734: Sandy Duplication of Benefits Fairness …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); Senate Democrats (69th percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile).

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

Got the 18th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Gillibrand’s bills and resolutions had 407 cosponsors in 2019. 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 Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); Senate Democrats (67th percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile).

 

Ranked the 18th 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Gillibrand’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); Senate Democrats (76th percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Gillibrand introduced 2 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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. 546: Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent …; S. 1195: Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); Senate Democrats (58th percentile); All Senators (51st percentile).

The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill.
 

Bills Introduced

Gillibrand introduced 44 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (60th percentile); Senate Democrats (53rd percentile); All Senators (71st percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

4 of Gillibrand’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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. 373: A bill to provide for …; S. 546: Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent …; S. 1195: Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans …; S. 1791: Every Child Deserves a Family …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); Senate Democrats (29th percentile); All Senators (42nd percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 16 of Gillibrand’s 44 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Gillibrand caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); Senate Democrats (42nd percentile); All Senators (50th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Committee Positions

Gillibrand 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 Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); Senate Democrats (18th percentile); All Senators (20th 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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.