skip to main content

Sen. Robert “Bob” Casey’s 2017 Report Card

Senior Senator from Pennsylvania
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Casey’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.

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 Casey’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.

Jump to...

 

Held the most committee positions compared to Senate Democrats

Casey held a leadership position on 1 committee and 3 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 Casey’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); All Senators (95th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 4th most bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 17 of Casey’s 45 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (89th percentile); All Senators (87th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 8th most bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Casey cosponsored 206 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 Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); Senate Democrats (52nd percentile); All Senators (76th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 10th most often compared to Serving 10+ Years

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 206 bills that Casey cosponsored, 33% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); Senate Democrats (65th percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile).

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

Introduced the 12th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)

Casey introduced 45 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (85th percentile); All Senators (85th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 10th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 8 others)

2 of Casey’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 470: Child and Dependent Care Tax …; S.Res. 76: A resolution expressing support for …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); Senate Democrats (15th percentile); All Senators (23rd percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 14th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 5 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 13 of Casey’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. 142: Community Economic Assistance Act of …; S. 400: Susquehanna National Heritage Area Act; S. 443: Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination …; S. 470: Child and Dependent Care Tax …; S. 816: ABLE Financial Planning Act; S. 817: ABLE Age Adjustment Act; S. 885: Improved Employment Outcomes for Foster …; S. 911: Saracini Aviation Safety Act of …; S. 1194: Medical Nutrition Equity Act of …; S. 1295: RISE Act of 2017; S. 1324: Disarm Hate Act; S. 1909: BENES Act of 2017; S. 2017: Driver Fatigue Prevention Act

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (74th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile).

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

Got their bills out of committee the 15th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 8 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Casey introduced 9 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 597: Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship …; S. 1069: Medical Device Safety Monitoring Act; S.Res. 76: A resolution expressing support for …; S.Res. 77: A resolution supporting the goals …; S.Res. 95: A resolution designating March 22, …; S.Res. 96: A resolution designating March 25, …; S.Res. 150: A resolution recognizing threats to …; S.Res. 239: A resolution congratulating the Pittsburgh …; S.Res. 299: A resolution expressing support for …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); Senate Democrats (85th percentile); All Senators (77th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Casey introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. 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. 1069: Medical Device Safety Monitoring Act

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (49th percentile); Senate Democrats (65th percentile); All Senators (49th 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.
 

Cosponsors

Casey’s bills and resolutions had 208 cosponsors in 2017. 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 Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); Senate Democrats (59th percentile); All Senators (71st 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Casey’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); Senate Democrats (67th percentile); All Senators (32nd 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Casey’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (51st percentile); Senate Democrats (65th percentile); All Senators (65th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Casey missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 325 votes) in 2017. View Casey’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Casey supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Casey 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (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 2017) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.