Sen. Robert “Bob” Menendez’s 2018 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from New Jersey
Democrat
Serving Jan 18, 2006 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Menendez’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.
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 Menendez’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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Was most absent in votes compared to All SenatorsMenendez missed 14.0% of votes (84 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Menendez’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); All Senators (99th percentile). |
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Got the 3rd most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate DemocratsMenendez’s bills and resolutions had 638 cosponsors in the 115th 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 Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); Senate Democrats (94th percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 3rd most often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Menendez introduced 22 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 382: Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of …; S. 484: U.S. Territories Investor Protection Act …; S. 1208: Strengthening the Department of Homeland …; S. 3209: A bill to designate the …; S. 3233: Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption …; S. 3291: A bill to reauthorize the …; S. 3654: U.S. Agency for Global Media …; S.Res. 81: A resolution recognizing the 196th …; S.Res. 146: A resolution designating April 30, …; S.Res. 158: A resolution recognizing the cultural …; S.Res. 253: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 256: A resolution recognizing Hispanic Heritage …; S.Res. 269: A resolution designating September 2017 …; S.Res. 443: A resolution recognizing the 197th …; S.Res. 445: A resolution marking the 6-month …; S.Res. 496: A resolution recognizing April 30, …; S.Res. 497: A resolution recognizing the cultural …; S.Res. 510: A resolution expressing support for …; S.Res. 571: A resolution condemning the ongoing …; S.Res. 639: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 645: A resolution designating September 2018 …; S.Res. 655: A resolution recognizing Hispanic Heritage … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); All Senators (86th percentile). |
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Ranked the 7th top leader compared to Senate DemocratsOur 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 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Menendez’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); Senate Democrats (85th percentile); All Senators (84th percentile). |
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Wrote the 5th most laws compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 5 others)Menendez introduced 5 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th Congress. 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. 382: Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of …; S. 484: U.S. Territories Investor Protection Act …; S. 3209: A bill to designate the …; S. 3233: Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption …; S. 3291: A bill to reauthorize the … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); Senate Democrats (79th percentile); All Senators (66th 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. |
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Introduced the 9th most bills compared to All SenatorsMenendez introduced 79 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); Senate Democrats (89th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 14th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 246: Campus Fire Safety Education Act …; S. 484: U.S. Territories Investor Protection Act …; S. 986: Fairness for Our Hospitals Act …; S. 999: COAST Anti-Drilling Act; S. 1147: Collaborative Academic Research Efforts for …; S. 1193: Better Education and Skills Training …; S. 1208: Strengthening the Department of Homeland …; S. 1364: National Museum of the American …; S. 1622: Beach Act of 2017; S. 2187: A bill to establish a …; S. 2216: Disaster Assistance Recoupment Fairness Act …; S. 2954: Guardians of America’s Freedom Medal …; S. 3291: A bill to reauthorize the …; S.Res. 104: A resolution honoring the accomplishments …; S.Res. 158: A resolution recognizing the cultural …; S.Res. 441: A resolution honoring the accomplishments …; S.Res. 497: A resolution recognizing the cultural …; S.Res. 571: A resolution condemning the ongoing …; S.Res. 716: A resolution calling for credible, … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (72nd percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 17th most bills compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 36 of Menendez’s 79 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Menendez caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (83rd percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Ranked 24th most politically left 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 the 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Menendez’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); Senate Democrats (47th percentile); All Senators (23rd percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors7 of Menendez’s bills and resolutions in the 115th 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. 382: Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of …; S. 1706: SAFE Act; S. 1945: Keep Americans Safe Act; S. 2181: Military Families Credit Reporting Act …; S.Res. 104: A resolution honoring the accomplishments …; S.Res. 441: A resolution honoring the accomplishments …; S.J.Res. 6: A joint resolution proposing an … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); Senate Democrats (57th percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile). |
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Committee PositionsMenendez 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 Menendez’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); Senate Democrats (62nd percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredMenendez cosponsored 380 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 (74th percentile); Senate Democrats (49th percentile); All Senators (74th percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 380 bills that Menendez cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (51st percentile); Senate Democrats (40th percentile); All Senators (53rd 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Menendez supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Menendez 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Menendez cosponsored S. 210: Global Health, Empowerment and Rights …; S. 298: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 2236: Congressional Harassment Reform Act Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); Senate Democrats (15th percentile); All Senators (54th 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 115th Congress) 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.
