Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2022 Report Card
Senate Majority Leader
Senior
Senator
from Kentucky
Republican
Serving Jan 3, 1985 – Jan 3, 2027
These statistics cover McConnell’s record during the 117th Congress (Jan 3, 2021-Jan 3, 2023) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Feb 12, 2023.
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 Majority 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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Cosponsored the 2nd fewest bills compared to All SenatorsMcConnell cosponsored 94 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 (2nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); All Senators (1st percentile). |
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Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsMcConnell introduced 15 bills and resolutions in the 117th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Republicans (6th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 3rd fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 1091: A bill to designate certain …; S. 3545: Federal Prisons Accountability Act of …; S. 3997: Land Between the Lakes Recreation …; S.Res. 3: A resolution fixing the hour …; S.Res. 4: A resolution fixing the hour … Compare to all Senate Republicans (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (3rd percentile); All Senators (5th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 3rd fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 4 of McConnell’s 15 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party McConnell caucused with in the 117th Congress. Compare to all Senate Republicans (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (3rd percentile); All Senators (5th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Got influential cosponsors the 4th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)1 of McConnell’s bills and resolutions in the 117th 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. 3545: Federal Prisons Accountability Act of … Compare to all Senate Republicans (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); All Senators (6th percentile). |
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Ranked 7th 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 117th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from McConnell’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Republicans (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (64th percentile); All Senators (56th percentile). |
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Got the 13th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Serving 10+ YearsMcConnell’s bills and resolutions had 208 cosponsors in the 117th 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 Senate Republicans (34th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); All Senators (25th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 14th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 94 bills that McConnell cosponsored, 45% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Republicans (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); All Senators (86th 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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Wrote the 10th fewest laws compared to All Senators (tied with 9 others)McConnell introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 117th 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. 3997: Land Between the Lakes Recreation … Compare to all Senate Republicans (14th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (10th percentile); All Senators (9th 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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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. McConnell introduced 10 bills in the 117th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 3997: Land Between the Lakes Recreation …; S.Res. 1: A resolution establishing a Committee …; S.Res. 2: A resolution informing the House …; S.Res. 3: A resolution fixing the hour …; S.Res. 5: A resolution honoring the memory …; S.Res. 32: A resolution to constitute the …; S.Res. 189: A resolution congratulating the University …; S.Res. 386: A resolution relative to the …; S.Con.Res. 1: A concurrent resolution to provide …; S.Con.Res. 2: A concurrent resolution extending the … Compare to all Senate Republicans (60th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); All Senators (41st 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 117th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from McConnell’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Republicans (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); All Senators (45th percentile). |
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Missed VotesMcConnell missed 2.4% of votes (23 of 949 votes) in the 117th Congress. View McConnell’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Senators (45th 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 117th Congress) was the 117th Congress (freshmen) or 116th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
