2016 Report Cards
All Senators
These statistics dissect the legislative records of Members of Congress during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017), as of Aug 24, 2017.
A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make a 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 legislating and make your own judgements based on what legislative 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.

Look at report cards for...
- All Representatives (439)
- House Republicans (247)
- House Democrats (191)
- Serving 10+ Years (House) (185)
- All Senators (100)
- House Sophomores (73)
- House Freshmen (66)
- Senate Republicans (54)
- Serving 10+ Years (Senate) (47)
- Senate Democrats (44)
- Senate Sophomores (16)
- Senate Freshmen (13)
Bills Cosponsored
The number of bills cosponsored by each legislator in the 114th Congress.
All Senators | ||
most bills | ||
#1 | 479 | Sen. Richard Blumenthal [D-CT] |
#2 | 457 | Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#99 | 81 | Sen. Bob Corker [R-TN, 2007-2018] |
#100 | 74 | Sen. Richard Shelby [R-AL] |
fewest bills |
Bills Introduced
The number of bills each legislator introduced in the 114th Congress.
All Senators | ||
most bills | ||
#1 | 140 | Sen. David Vitter [R-LA, 2005-2016] |
#2 | 108 | Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT, 1977-2018] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#98 | 10 | Sen. Benjamin “Ben” Sasse [R-NE] |
#98 | 10 | Sen. Jefferson “Jeff” Sessions [R-AL, 1997-2017] |
#100 | 8 | Sen. Richard Shelby [R-AL] |
fewest bills |
Bills Out of Committee
The number of bills that each legislator introduced in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action.
All Senators | ||
most often | ||
#1 | 36 | Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT, 1977-2018] |
#2 | 21 | Sen. Ron Johnson [R-WI] |
... EXPAND ... |
Committee Positions
A score, giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position, for each legislator.
All Senators | ||
most committee positions | ||
#1 | 16 | Sen. Roy Blunt [R-MO] |
#2 | 12 | Sen. Barbara Boxer [D-CA, 1993-2016] |
... EXPAND ... |
Cosponsors
The total number of cosponsors joining the bills written by each legislator in the 114th Congress.
All Senators | ||
most cosponsors | ||
#1 | 989 | Sen. Mitch McConnell [R-KY] |
#2 | 760 | Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley [R-IA] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#99 | 15 | Sen. Thom Tillis [R-NC] |
#100 | 11 | Sen. Richard Shelby [R-AL] |
fewest cosponsors |
Government Transparency
GovTrack looked at whether legislators supported any of the government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills that we identified in the 114th Congress. We gave a score to each legislator based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.
All Senators | ||
most often | ||
#1 | 11 | Sen. Claire McCaskill [D-MO, 2007-2018] |
#2 | 10 | Sen. Ron Johnson [R-WI] |
#2 | 10 | Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT] |
... EXPAND ... |
Ideology Score
Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by whether they sponsor and cosponsor overlapping sets of bills and resolutions with other Members of Congress. The score can be interpreted as a left—right scale measuring the dominant ideological difference or differences among Members of Congress, although of course it only takes into account a small aspect of reality.
All Senators | ||
most politically right | ||
#1 | 1.00 | Sen. James “Jim” Inhofe [R-OK] |
#2 | 0.94 | Sen. Pat Roberts [R-KS, 1997-2020] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#99 | 0.04 | Sen. Bernard “Bernie” Sanders [I-VT] |
#100 | 0.00 | Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA] |
most politically left |
For more, see our methodology. Although we do not report a margin of error, the scores fluctuate significantly over time because of the limited data used in the analysis. An ideology score is not computed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills or who have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable statistics. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from those elsewhere on GovTrack.
Joining Bipartisan Bills
In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. This is the percent of bills cosponsored by each legislator which were introduced by a member of the other party.
All Senators | ||
most often | ||
#1 | 66.3% | Sen. Joe Manchin [D-WV] |
#2 | 64.6% | Sen. Joe Donnelly [D-IN, 2013-2018] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#97 | 11.4% | Sen. Ted Cruz [R-TX] |
#98 | 11.4% | Sen. John Barrasso [R-WY] |
least often |
Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
Laws Enacted
The number of bills each legislator introduced that became law in the 114th Congress, including via incorporation into other bills. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.
All Senators | ||
most laws | ||
#1 | 15 | Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT, 1977-2018] |
#2 | 12 | Sen. Ron Johnson [R-WI] |
... EXPAND ... |
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.
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.
All Senators | ||
top leader | ||
#1 | 1.00 | Sen. Mitch McConnell [R-KY] |
#2 | 0.91 | Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT, 1977-2018] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#99 | 0.01 | Sen. Richard Shelby [R-AL] |
#100 | 0.00 | Sen. Thom Tillis [R-NC] |
bottom/follower |
For more, see our methodology. A leadership score is not computed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable statistics. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership scores here may differ from those elsewhere on GovTrack.
Missed Votes
The percentage of votes each legislator missed in the 114th Congress.
All Senators | ||
most absent | ||
#1 | 32.3% | Sen. Ted Cruz [R-TX] |
#2 | 31.3% | Sen. Marco Rubio [R-FL] |
... EXPAND ... |
The Speaker of the House is not included in this statistic because according to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, and the delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are also not included because they were not elligible to vote in any roll call votes.
Powerful Cosponsors
The number of bills that each legislator introduced in the 114th Congress that 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.
All Senators | ||
most often | ||
#1 | 19 | Sen. John Thune [R-SD] |
#2 | 17 | Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT, 1977-2018] |
... EXPAND ... |
Working with the Other Chamber
The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing
All Senators | ||
most bills | ||
#1 | 40 | Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT, 1977-2018] |
#2 | 28 | Sen. Mark Kirk [R-IL, 2010-2016] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#99 | 1 | Sen. Heidi Heitkamp [D-ND, 2013-2018] |
#99 | 1 | Sen. Richard Shelby [R-AL] |
fewest bills |
Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
Writing Bipartisan Bills
In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. This is the number of bills introduced by each legislator in the 114th Congress which had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor.
All Senators | ||
most bills | ||
#1 | 49 | Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley [R-IA] |
#2 | 36 | Sen. Benjamin Cardin [D-MD] |
... EXPAND ... | ||
#96 | 1 | Sen. Daniel Coats [R-IN, 2011-2016] |
#96 | 1 | Sen. Tom Cotton [R-AR] |
#96 | 1 | Sen. Benjamin “Ben” Sasse [R-NE] |
#96 | 1 | Sen. Richard Shelby [R-AL] |
#100 | 0 | Sen. Bernard “Bernie” Sanders [I-VT] |
fewest bills |
Additional Notes
The Speaker’s Votes: Missed votes are not computed for the Speaker of the House. According to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings.” In practice this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes but is not considered absent.
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 114th Congress) 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.