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Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s 2013 Report Card

Senior Senator from Alaska
Republican
Serving Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2029

These year-end statistics cover Murkowski’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare her 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 Murkowski’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 most often compared to All Senators

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 146 bills that Murkowski cosponsored, 69% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (95th percentile); Senate Republicans (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); All Senators (98th percentile).

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

Got their bills out of committee the 2nd most often compared to Senate Republicans

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Murkowski introduced 8 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 155: A bill to designate a …; S. 156: Huna Tlingit Traditional Gull Egg …; S. 157: Denali National Park Improvement Act; S. 235: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium …; S. 340: Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement …; S. 545: Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of …; S. 736: Alaska Subsistence Structure Protection Act …; S. 1335: Sportsmen’s Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (80th percentile); Senate Republicans (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); All Senators (90th percentile).

 

Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to Senate Republicans

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 Murkowski’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); All Senators (54th percentile).

 

Introduced the 3rd most bills compared to Senate Republicans

Murkowski introduced 35 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (68th percentile); Senate Republicans (93rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); All Senators (75th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 6th lowest % of bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Murkowski tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 11% of Murkowski’s 35 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Senate Republicans (23rd percentile); Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (11th percentile); All Senators (13th percentile).

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

Got bicameral support on the 5th most bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 2 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 9 of Murkowski’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. 14: Southeast Alaska Native Land Conveyance …; S. 157: Denali National Park Improvement Act; S. 181: Niblack and Bokan Mountain Mining …; S. 182: Anchorage Land Conveyance Act of …; S. 235: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium …; S. 361: Prompt Notification of Short Sales …; S. 366: A bill to amend the …; S. 1570: Indian Health Service Advance Appropriations …; S. 1609: Federal Submerged Lands Transportation Development …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (68th percentile); Senate Republicans (84th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); All Senators (76th percentile).

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

Was 8th most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)

Murkowski missed 6.5% of votes (19 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Murkowski’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (90th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile).

 

Ranked the 13th bottom/follower compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 Murkowski’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (24th percentile); Senate Republicans (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); All Senators (33rd percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 11th least often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 8 others)

2 of Murkowski’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. 545: Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of …; S. 1600: Critical Minerals Policy Act of …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (24th percentile); Senate Republicans (47th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (27th percentile); All Senators (39th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Murkowski introduced 1 bill that became law in 2013. 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. 157: Denali National Park Improvement Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Senate Republicans (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); All Senators (86th 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.
 

Committee Positions

Murkowski 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 Murkowski’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); All Senators (64th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Murkowski cosponsored 146 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 (59th percentile); Senate Republicans (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Murkowski’s bills and resolutions had 92 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 (32nd percentile); Senate Republicans (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (27th percentile); All Senators (36th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

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

Murkowski cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (51st percentile); Senate Republicans (67th 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.