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Sen. Rand Paul’s 2014 Report Card

Junior Senator from Kentucky
Republican
Serving Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2029

These statistics cover Paul’s record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 12, 2015. Although Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA1], Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4], Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10], and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI] served in the 112th Congress, they took office within the last two months of the 112th Congress and here are grouped with other freshmen for the 113th 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 Paul’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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Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to Senate Sophomores

Paul cosponsored 121 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 Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (4th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile).

 

Introduced the 2nd most bills compared to Senate Republicans

Paul introduced 50 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (96th percentile); All Senators (75th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 2nd most often compared to Senate Republicans

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Paul introduced 12 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 81: Default Prevention Act; S. 82: Separation of Powers Restoration and …; S. 83: Government Shutdown Prevention Act of …; S. 164: A bill to prohibit the …; S. 201: A bill to prohibit the …; S. 204: A bill to preserve and …; S. 209: A bill to require a …; S. 558: Accountability in Grants Act of …; S. 583: A bill to implement equal …; S. 1004: Anti-Trust Freedom Act of 2013; S. 1121: Fourth Amendment Restoration Act of …; S. 2062: Constitutional Check and Balance Act

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); Senate Republicans (96th percentile); All Senators (88th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 2nd most often compared to Senate Republicans

GovTrack looked at whether Paul supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Paul 4 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Paul sponsored S. 1665: Read the Bills Act

Paul cosponsored S. 1130: Ending Secret Law Act

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (96th percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 4th lowest % of bills compared to All Senators

Paul tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 8% of Paul’s 50 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (5th percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 4th least often compared to Senate Republicans

Of the 121 bills that Paul cosponsored, 26% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (7th percentile); All Senators (45th percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 20th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 12 others)

2 of Paul’s bills and resolutions in the 113th 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. 619: Justice Safety Valve Act of …; S. 890: Defense of Environment and Property …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (22nd percentile); All Senators (19th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Paul introduced 0 bills that became law in the 113th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (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.
 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 8 of Paul’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. 530: A bill to make participation …; S. 619: Justice Safety Valve Act of …; S. 1664: One Subject at a Time …; S. 1731: Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act; S. 2550: Civil Rights Voting Restoration Act …; S. 2567: Record Expungement Designed to Enhance …; S. 2644: FAIR Act; S.J.Res. 25: A joint resolution proposing an …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (56th percentile); All Senators (47th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Paul held a leadership position on 0 committees and 2 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Paul’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (11th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Paul’s bills and resolutions had 171 cosponsors in the 113th 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 Sophomores (38th percentile); Senate Republicans (47th percentile); All Senators (38th percentile).

 

Ideology Score

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 the 113th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Paul’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (38th percentile); All Senators (72nd 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 the 113th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Paul’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (42nd percentile); All Senators (33rd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Paul missed 2.7% of votes (18 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Paul’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (38th percentile); All Senators (59th 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 113th Congress) 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.