Sen. Robert “Rob” Portman’s 2016 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Ohio
Republican
Served Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2023
These statistics cover Portman’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.
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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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd most often compared to Senate RepublicansIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 252 bills that Portman cosponsored, 40% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Republicans (96th percentile); All Senators (85th 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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Ranked 4th most politically left compared to Senate RepublicansOur 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 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Portman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Republicans (6th percentile); All Senators (49th percentile). |
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Wrote the 4th most laws compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Portman introduced 9 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th 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. 280: Federal Permitting Improvement Act of …; S. 460: Drinking Water Protection Act; S. 535: Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of …; S. 998: American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of …; S. 1325: A bill to designate the …; S. 1596: A bill to designate the …; S. 2425: Patient Access and Medicare Protection …; S. 2965: A bill to designate the …; S. 2971: National Urban Search and Rescue … Compare to all Senate Republicans (93rd percentile); All Senators (95th 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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 6th most bills compared to Senate RepublicansIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 25 of Portman’s 61 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Senate Republicans (89th percentile); All Senators (87th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 7th most bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 148: Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Improvement …; S. 294: Pro Football Hall of Fame …; S. 334: End Government Shutdowns Act; S. 381: Bringing Missing Children Home Act …; S. 422: A bill to amend title …; S. 535: Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of …; S. 629: MEND Act; S. 646: Medical Evaluation Parity for Servicemembers …; S. 941: Prevent Targeting at the IRS …; S. 943: Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act …; S. 1007: A bill to amend the …; S. 1325: A bill to designate the …; S. 1514: Medicare Secondary Payer and Workers’ …; S. 1829: Efficient Space Exploration Act; S. 2147: Pension Accountability Act; S. 2822: Flexibility in Electronic Health Record …; S. 2965: A bill to designate the …; S. 3292: STOP Act of 2016 Compare to all Senate Republicans (85th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Introduced the 9th most bills compared to Senate RepublicansPortman introduced 61 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Republicans (83rd percentile); All Senators (81st percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 8th most often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 3 others)GovTrack looked at whether Portman supported any of 22 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Portman 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Portman cosponsored S. 282: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act; S. 366: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 579: Inspector General Empowerment Act of … Compare to all Senate Republicans (80th percentile); All Senators (56th percentile). |
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Got the 11th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate RepublicansPortman’s bills and resolutions had 395 cosponsors in the 114th 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 Republicans (80th percentile); All Senators (79th percentile). |
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Ranked the 13th top leader compared to All SenatorsOur 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 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Portman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Republicans (83rd percentile); All Senators (87th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 15th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)9 of Portman’s bills and resolutions in the 114th 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. 280: Federal Permitting Improvement Act of …; S. 294: Pro Football Hall of Fame …; S. 720: Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness …; S. 1325: A bill to designate the …; S. 1513: Second Chance Reauthorization Act; S. 1607: Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act …; S. 2006: Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015; S. 2476: A bill to exclude power …; S. 2971: National Urban Search and Rescue … Compare to all Senate Republicans (78th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Portman introduced 8 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 280: Federal Permitting Improvement Act of …; S. 535: Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of …; S. 720: Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness …; S. 1007: A bill to amend the …; S. 1526: Construction Consensus Procurement Improvement Act …; S. 1596: A bill to designate the …; S. 1607: Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act …; S. 2971: National Urban Search and Rescue … Compare to all Senate Republicans (63rd percentile); All Senators (74th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsPortman 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 Portman’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Republicans (22nd percentile); All Senators (21st percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredPortman cosponsored 252 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 Republicans (74th percentile); All Senators (51st percentile). |
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Missed VotesPortman missed 1.4% of votes (7 of 502 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Portman’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (42nd 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 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.
