Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s 2019 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Arizona
Independent
Serving Jan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Sinema’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 Sinema’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.
|
|
Got bicameral support on the fewest bills compared to Senate DemocratsThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 2558: Nursing Home Care for Native …; S. 2880: Protecting Social Workers and Health … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
|
|
Joined bipartisan bills the most often compared to Senate DemocratsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 311 bills that Sinema cosponsored, 59% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Independent. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (89th percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
|
|
Ranked 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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Sinema’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (11th percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile). |
|
|
Was most absent in votes compared to Senate FreshmenSinema missed 5.4% of votes (23 of 428 votes) in 2019. View Sinema’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (89th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile). |
|
|
Got the 2nd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate DemocratsSinema’s bills and resolutions had 89 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 Senate Freshmen (56th percentile); Senate Democrats (2nd percentile); All Senators (13th percentile). |
|
|
Ranked the 2nd bottom/follower 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Sinema’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (67th percentile); Senate Democrats (2nd percentile); All Senators (15th percentile). |
|
|
Wrote the 2nd most laws compared to Senate FreshmenSinema introduced 3 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. 504: Let Everyone Get Involved in …; S. 1467: Sergeant Daniel Somers Network of …; S. 1749: Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (82nd percentile); All Senators (77th 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. |
|
|
Cosponsored the 2nd most bills compared to Senate FreshmenSinema cosponsored 311 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 Freshmen (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (40th percentile); All Senators (70th percentile). |
|
|
Got influential cosponsors the 2nd least often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 2 others)1 of Sinema’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. 1420: Setting Manageable Analysis Requirements in … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (44th percentile); Senate Democrats (2nd percentile); All Senators (9th percentile). |
|
|
Held the 5th fewest committee positions compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 3 others)Sinema held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Sinema’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (33rd percentile); Senate Democrats (9th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile). |
|
|
Introduced the 8th fewest bills compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)Sinema introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (22nd percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (7th percentile). |
|
|
Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Sinema introduced 5 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 504: Let Everyone Get Involved in …; S. 1420: Setting Manageable Analysis Requirements in …; S. 1467: Sergeant Daniel Somers Network of …; S. 1749: Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans …; S. 2668: Solar Energy Research and Development … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (67th percentile); Senate Democrats (36th percentile); All Senators (32nd percentile). |
|
|
Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 14 of Sinema’s 15 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Sinema caucused with in 2019. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (67th percentile); Senate Democrats (29th percentile); All Senators (40th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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.
