Sen. Ron Wyden’s 2015 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Oregon
Democrat
Serving Feb 5, 1996 – Jan 3, 2029
These year-end statistics cover Wyden’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.
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 Wyden’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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Wrote the most laws compared to All SenatorsWyden introduced 3 bills that became law in 2015. 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. 136: Gold Star Fathers Act of …; S. 139: Ensuring Access to Clinical Trials …; S. 971: Medicare Independence at Home Medical … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (98th percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); All Senators (99th percentile). A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Introduced the most bills compared to Senate DemocratsWyden introduced 63 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the most bills compared to Senate DemocratsThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 139: Ensuring Access to Clinical Trials …; S. 602: GI Bill Fairness Act of …; S. 815: Cow Creek Umpqua Land Conveyance …; S. 817: A bill to provide for …; S. 818: A bill to amend the …; S. 822: Geothermal Production Expansion Act of …; S. 971: Medicare Independence at Home Medical …; S. 987: Small Business Tax Equity Act …; S. 990: Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation …; S. 1030: Aaron’s Law Act of 2015; S. 1195: Student Right to Know Before …; S. 1307: Intelligence Budget Transparency Act of …; S. 1337: SPOT Act; S. 1440: Credit Union Residential Loan Parity …; S. 1498: A bill to amend title …; S. 1740: Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers …; S. 2009: Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry …; S. 2069: Mount Hood Cooper Spur Land …; S. 2090: Social Security Earned Benefits Payment … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); All Senators (96th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got the 2nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsWyden’s bills and resolutions had 485 cosponsors in 2015. 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (98th percentile); Senate Democrats (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); All Senators (98th percentile). |
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Held the 2nd most committee positions compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)Wyden held a leadership position on 1 committee and 2 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 Wyden’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (93rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
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Ranked the 5th 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Wyden’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (90th percentile); Senate Democrats (95th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); All Senators (95th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 6th most often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 3 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Wyden introduced 4 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 136: Gold Star Fathers Act of …; S. 817: A bill to provide for …; S. 818: A bill to amend the …; S. 2069: Mount Hood Cooper Spur Land … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (48th percentile); Senate Democrats (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Senators (65th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 12th fewest bills compared to Senate DemocratsWyden cosponsored 173 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (58th percentile); Senate Democrats (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); All Senators (58th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 23rd most often compared to All SenatorsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 173 bills that Wyden cosponsored, 34% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (74th percentile); Senate Democrats (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); All Senators (77th 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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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Wyden’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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. 139: Ensuring Access to Clinical Trials …; S. 822: Geothermal Production Expansion Act of …; S.Res. 287: A resolution condemning the senseless … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (28th percentile); Senate Democrats (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Senators (48th percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsWyden tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 25% of Wyden’s 63 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (27th percentile); Senate Democrats (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); All Senators (36th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Ideology ScoreOur 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Wyden’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (35th percentile); Senate Democrats (68th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); All Senators (31st percentile). |
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Missed VotesWyden missed 0.9% of votes (3 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Wyden’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (28th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (37th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Wyden supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Wyden 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Wyden cosponsored S. 579: Inspector General Empowerment Act of … Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (30th percentile); Senate Democrats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (34th 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 2015) 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.
