Sen. Pat Roberts’s 2015 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Kansas
Republican
Served Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2021
These year-end statistics cover Roberts’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.
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 Roberts’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 right compared to All SenatorsOur 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Roberts’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (95th percentile); Senate Republicans (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); All Senators (98th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 6th most bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)Roberts cosponsored 180 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 (65th percentile); Senate Republicans (87th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65th percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 7th least often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembsOf the 180 bills that Roberts cosponsored, 16% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); Senate Republicans (30th percentile); All Senators (16th 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 9th fewest bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembsRoberts introduced 22 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (20th percentile); Senate Republicans (39th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); All Senators (33rd percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 7th least often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 5 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Roberts introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 1417: United States Grain Standards Act … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (9th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 10th most bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 258: Critical Access Hospital Relief Act …; S. 455: Innovators Job Creation Act of …; S. 506: A bill to amend part …; S. 654: A bill to exempt certain …; S. 709: Restoring Access to Medication Act …; S. 876: A bill to amend the …; S. 1368: SIGMA Act of 2015; S. 1660: A bill to amend the …; S. 1880: Helping Veterans Save for Health …; S. 2221: Ensuring Access to Affordable and …; S. 2370: Protecting Charitable Contributions Act of … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (65th percentile); Senate Republicans (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65th percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Laws EnactedRoberts introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Roberts’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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. 168: Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy …; S. 709: Restoring Access to Medication Act …; S. 2221: Ensuring Access to Affordable and … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (28th percentile); Senate Republicans (46th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsRoberts tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 27% of Roberts’s 22 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (38th percentile); Senate Republicans (37th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (42nd percentile); All Senators (43rd percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Committee PositionsRoberts held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Roberts’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Republicans (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); All Senators (60th percentile). |
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CosponsorsRoberts’s bills and resolutions had 128 cosponsors in 2015. 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 (28th percentile); Senate Republicans (46th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); All Senators (42nd 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Roberts’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (45th percentile); Senate Republicans (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Senators (56th percentile). |
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Missed VotesRoberts missed 1.2% of votes (4 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Roberts’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (45th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); All Senators (50th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Roberts supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Roberts 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); 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 2015) 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.
