Sen. Robert “Rob” Portman’s 2013 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Ohio
Republican
Served Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2023
These year-end statistics cover Portman’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him 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 Portman’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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Held the most committee positions compared to Senate SophomoresPortman held a leadership position on 0 committees 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 Portman’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); Senate Republicans (44th percentile); All Senators (52nd percentile). |
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Was 2nd most present in votes compared to Senate Sophomores (tied with 1 other)Portman missed 0.3% of votes (1 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Portman’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); All Senators (16th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 3rd fewest bills compared to Senate Sophomores (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 24: Small Business Health Relief Act …; S. 1005: Conservation Reform Act of 2013; S. 1044: World War II Memorial Prayer … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (38th percentile); All Senators (30th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Ranked 4th most politically left compared to Senate SophomoresOur 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 Portman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (24th percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). |
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Got the 8th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate RepublicansPortman’s bills and resolutions had 161 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 Sophomores (69th percentile); Senate Republicans (82nd percentile); All Senators (66th percentile). |
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Ranked the 8th top leader compared to Senate RepublicansOur 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 Portman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (77th percentile); Senate Republicans (82nd percentile); All Senators (63rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 9th most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 130 bills that Portman cosponsored, 48% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (62nd percentile); Senate Republicans (80th percentile); All Senators (91st 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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Laws EnactedPortman 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 Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (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. |
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Bills IntroducedPortman introduced 20 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (69th percentile); All Senators (51st percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Portman introduced 2 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 230: A bill to authorize the …; S. 1044: World War II Memorial Prayer … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (62nd percentile); Senate Republicans (64th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors2 of Portman’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. 43: Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act; S. 1310: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection-Inspector … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (38th percentile); Senate Republicans (47th percentile); All Senators (39th percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsPortman tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 35% of Portman’s 20 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (58th percentile); Senate Republicans (61st percentile); All Senators (57th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Bills CosponsoredPortman cosponsored 130 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 (38th percentile); Senate Republicans (44th percentile); All Senators (44th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Portman supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Portman 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Portman cosponsored S. 994: Digital Accountability and Transparency Act … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (67th percentile); All Senators (47th 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.
