Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2013 Report Card
Senate Minority Leader
Senior
Senator
from Kentucky
Republican
Serving Jan 3, 1985 – Jan 3, 2027
These year-end statistics cover McConnell’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him 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.
Members of Congress with party leadership roles often do not participate in the legislative process in the same way as other Members of Congress. Since McConnell was busy being Senate Minority Leader, the metrics of legislative activity listed below may not apply.
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 McConnell’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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Held the fewest committee positions compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)McConnell held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, 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 McConnell’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Ranked the 3rd 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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from McConnell’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Republicans (93rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 8th fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsMcConnell cosponsored 89 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 Republicans (20th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (13th percentile); All Senators (15th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 8th lowest % of bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsMcConnell tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 15% of McConnell’s 13 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013. Compare to all Senate Republicans (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); All Senators (18th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Introduced the 13th fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)McConnell introduced 13 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Republicans (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); All Senators (28th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 14th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 8 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. McConnell introduced 1 bill in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 1514: Saving Coal Jobs Act of … Compare to all Senate Republicans (40th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); All Senators (29th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 19th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 89 bills that McConnell cosponsored, 44% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Republicans (60th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); All Senators (80th 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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Laws EnactedMcConnell introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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. |
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Powerful Cosponsors0 of McConnell’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. Compare to all Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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.J.Res. 26: A joint resolution relating to … Compare to all Senate Republicans (9th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); All Senators (7th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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CosponsorsMcConnell’s bills and resolutions had 108 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 Republicans (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); All Senators (42nd percentile). |
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Ideology ScoreOur 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 McConnell’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Republicans (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); All Senators (74th percentile). |
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Missed VotesMcConnell missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 291 votes) in 2013. View McConnell’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether McConnell supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave McConnell 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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.
