Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s 2019 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Alaska
Republican
Serving Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2029
These year-end statistics cover Murkowski’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 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 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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Murkowski’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (44th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 219 bills that Murkowski cosponsored, 59% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); Senate Republicans (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. |
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Got influential cosponsors the 4th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)11 of Murkowski’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. 227: Savanna’s Act; S. 903: Nuclear Energy Leadership Act; S. 1317: American Mineral Security Act; S. 1857: Federal Energy and Water Management …; S. 2541: Indian Health Service Advance Appropriations …; S. 2556: Protecting Resources On The Electric …; S. 2657: Advanced Geothermal Innovation Leadership Act …; S. 2786: Arctic Shipping Federal Advisory Committee …; S.Res. 100: A resolution recognizing the heritage, …; S.Res. 212: A resolution celebrating the 100th …; S.Res. 251: A resolution recognizing 2019 as … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); Senate Republicans (94th percentile); All Senators (94th percentile). |
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Got the 5th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate RepublicansMurkowski’s bills and resolutions had 349 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 (57th percentile); Senate Republicans (91st percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile). |
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Ranked the 7th top leader compared to Senate RepublicansOur 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 Murkowski’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); Senate Republicans (87th percentile); All Senators (85th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th most bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 29 of Murkowski’s 41 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Murkowski caucused with in 2019. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); Senate Republicans (81st percentile); All Senators (80th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Cosponsored the 11th most bills compared to Senate RepublicansMurkowski cosponsored 219 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 (45th percentile); Senate Republicans (79th percentile); All Senators (47th percentile). |
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Introduced the 11th most bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 2 others)Murkowski introduced 41 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); Senate Republicans (75th percentile); All Senators (63rd percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 13th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Murkowski introduced 14 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 47: John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, …; S. 224: A bill to provide for …; S. 227: Savanna’s Act; S. 903: Nuclear Energy Leadership Act; S. 1317: American Mineral Security Act; S. 1857: Federal Energy and Water Management …; S. 2399: A bill to amend the …; S. 2556: Protecting Resources On The Electric …; S. 2580: Department of the Interior, Environment, …; S. 2657: Advanced Geothermal Innovation Leadership Act …; S. 2786: Arctic Shipping Federal Advisory Committee …; S. 2799: Nexus of Energy and Water …; S.Res. 100: A resolution recognizing the heritage, …; S.Res. 212: A resolution celebrating the 100th … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); Senate Republicans (79th percentile); All Senators (85th percentile). |
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Was 16th most absent in votes compared to All SenatorsMurkowski missed 7.7% of votes (33 of 428 votes) in 2019. View Murkowski’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); All Senators (84th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 21st fewest bills compared to All Senators (tied with 8 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 133: Merchant Mariners of World War …; S. 224: A bill to provide for …; S. 903: Nuclear Energy Leadership Act; S. 1177: SEAL Act; S. 2459: Justice for Servicemembers Act Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); Senate Republicans (30th percentile); All Senators (20th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Laws EnactedMurkowski 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. 47: John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, …; S. 2580: Department of the Interior, Environment, … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); Senate Republicans (45th 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. |
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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 (40th percentile); Senate Republicans (74th percentile); All Senators (67th 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.
