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Sen. Patty Murray’s 2013 Report Card

Senior Senator from Washington
Democrat
Serving Jan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 2029

These year-end statistics cover Murray’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare her 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.

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 Murray’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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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Of the 141 bills that Murray cosponsored, 13% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (3rd percentile); Senate Democrats (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Ranked 6th most politically left compared to Serving 10+ Years

Our 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 Murray’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (10th percentile); Senate Democrats (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (9th percentile); All Senators (11th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 6th most often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 2 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Murray supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Murray 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Murray cosponsored S. 1130: Ending Secret Law Act; S. 1467: FISA Court Reform Act of …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); All Senators (74th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 7th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Murray introduced 8 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 112: Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions and …; S. 131: Women Veterans and Other Health …; S. 383: A bill to amend the …; S. 404: Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection …; S. 1243: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, …; S. 1356: Workforce Investment Act of 2013; S. 1719: Poison Center Network Act; S.Con.Res. 8: An original concurrent resolution setting …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (87th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); All Senators (90th percentile).

 

Was 10th most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Murray missed 5.5% of votes (16 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Murray’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); All Senators (88th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Murray 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (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.
 

Bills Introduced

Murray introduced 31 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (63rd percentile); Senate Democrats (55th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); All Senators (71st percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Murray’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.

Those bills were: S. 665: Protecting America’s Workers Act; S. 1356: Workforce Investment Act of 2013; S. 1719: Poison Center Network Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (46th percentile); Senate Democrats (49th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); All Senators (61st percentile).

 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 6 of Murray’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the House. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: S. 112: Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions and …; S. 383: A bill to amend the …; S. 404: Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection …; S. 1159: Freedom from Discrimination in Credit …; S. 1719: Poison Center Network Act; S. 1880: A bill to provide that …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (46th percentile); Senate Democrats (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); All Senators (58th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Murray tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 29% of Murray’s 31 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (45th percentile); Senate Democrats (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); All Senators (47th percentile).

Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Committee Positions

Murray 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 Murray’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); All Senators (64th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Murray cosponsored 141 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 (54th percentile); Senate Democrats (51st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); All Senators (55th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Murray’s bills and resolutions had 162 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (61st percentile); Senate Democrats (51st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); All Senators (67th percentile).

 

Leadership Score

Our 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 Murray’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (66th percentile); Senate Democrats (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); All Senators (71st 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.