![Photo of Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-OH]](/static/legislator-photos/400050-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Brown.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Brown is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Brown has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Dec 4, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Sherrod Brown sits on the following committees:
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Ranking Member,
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Economic Policy
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
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Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
- Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade
- Member, Subcommittee on Nutrition, Agricultural Research, and Specialty Crops
- Member, Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy
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Senate Committee on Finance
- Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy
- Member, Subcommittee on Health Care
- Member, Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness
- Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Enacted Legislation
Brown was the primary sponsor of 19 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 1436: A bill to make technical corrections to the computation of average pay under Public Law 110-279.
- S. 2377: A bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 200 West 2nd Street in Dayton, Ohio, as the “Walter H. Rice Federal Building and ...
- S. 1319: Community Care Core Competency Act of 2017
- S. 1236: A bill to require the Attorney General to designate Human Trafficking Coordinators for Federal judicial districts, and for other purposes.
- S. 857: African American Civil Rights Network Act
- S. 802: Larry Doby Congressional Gold Medal Act
- S. 2913 (113th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 715 Shawan Falls Drive in Dublin, Ohio, as the “Lance Corporal Wesley G. ...
Does 19 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Brown sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (36%) Taxation (23%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%) Labor and Employment (9%) Education (6%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (5%) Environmental Protection (5%) Social Welfare (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Brown’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 2938: Fair Warning Act of 2019
- S. 2952: A bill to reauthorize certain National Heritage Areas, and for other purposes.
- S.Res. 436: A resolution supporting the goals, activities, and ideals of Prematurity Awareness Month.
- S.Res. 420: A resolution encouraging the President to expand the list of the Department of ...
- S. 2827: U.S. African-American Burial Grounds Network Act
- S. 2803: Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act of 2019
- S. 2772: Medicare Mental Health Access Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2007 to Dec 2019, Brown missed 50 of 3,982 roll call votes, which is 1.3%. This is on par with the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills