Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s 2016 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Alaska
Republican
Serving Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2029
These statistics cover Murkowski’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare her to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.
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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Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to Senate RepublicansOur 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Murkowski’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (51st percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); All Senators (46th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 4th most often compared to Senate RepublicansIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 248 bills that Murkowski cosponsored, 36% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); Senate Republicans (93rd percentile); All Senators (79th 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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Introduced the 5th most bills compared to All SenatorsMurkowski introduced 82 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); Senate Republicans (93rd percentile); All Senators (95th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 6th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Murkowski introduced 16 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 147: Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act; S. 230: A bill to provide for …; S. 405: Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015; S. 556: Sportsmen’s Act of 2015; S. 873: Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Act; S. 1334: Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing …; S. 1443: Indian Employment, Training and Related …; S. 1583: A bill to authorize the …; S. 1645: Department of the Interior, Environment, …; S. 2011: Offshore Production and Energizing National …; S. 2012: North American Energy Security and …; S. 2018: A bill to convey, without …; S. 2046: A bill to authorize the …; S. 2360: Omnibus Territories Act of 2015; S. 2421: A bill to provide for …; S. 3068: Department of the Interior, Environment, … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); Senate Republicans (87th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
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Got the 11th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsMurkowski’s bills and resolutions had 190 cosponsors in the 114th Congress. 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 (21st percentile); Senate Republicans (39th percentile); All Senators (38th percentile). |
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Wrote the 13th most laws compared to All Senators (tied with 8 others)Murkowski introduced 5 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th Congress. 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. 230: A bill to provide for …; S. 1316: Point Spencer Land Conveyance Act; S. 1334: Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing …; S. 1346: E-Prize Competition Pilot Program Act …; S. 1645: Department of the Interior, Environment, … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); Senate Republicans (70th percentile); All Senators (79th 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. |
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Was 17th most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Murkowski missed 4.2% of votes (21 of 502 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Murkowski’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors6 of Murkowski’s bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress 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. 371: A bill to remove a …; S. 1590: Pregnancy Discrimination Amendment Act; S. 2056: National Volcano Early Warning and …; S. 2360: Omnibus Territories Act of 2015; S. 2610: A bill to approve an …; S.Res. 562: A resolution expressing support for … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); Senate Republicans (63rd percentile); All Senators (63rd 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. 230: A bill to provide for …; S. 872: Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities …; S. 1154: Subsistence Access Management Act of …; S. 1312: Energy Supply and Distribution Act …; S. 1316: Point Spencer Land Conveyance Act; S. 1346: E-Prize Competition Pilot Program Act …; S. 1358: Hmong Veterans’ Service Recognition Act; S. 1590: Pregnancy Discrimination Amendment Act; S. 1849: Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of …; S. 2046: A bill to authorize the …; S. 2421: A bill to provide for …; S. 3185: A bill to provide that …; S. 3204: King Cove Road Land Exchange … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (60th percentile); Senate Republicans (74th percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 14 of Murkowski’s 82 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (40th percentile); Senate Republicans (57th percentile); All Senators (54th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsMurkowski 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 Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); Senate Republicans (72nd percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredMurkowski cosponsored 248 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 (47th percentile); Senate Republicans (70th percentile); All Senators (49th 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Murkowski’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); Senate Republicans (33rd percentile); All Senators (43rd percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Murkowski supported any of 22 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. 366: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (28th percentile); Senate Republicans (52nd percentile); All Senators (28th 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 the 114th Congress) 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.
