Sen. Steve Daines’s 2018 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Montana
Republican
Serving Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2027
These statistics cover Daines’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 Daines’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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Introduced the most bills compared to Senate SophomoresDaines introduced 66 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); Senate Republicans (84th percentile); All Senators (76th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the most often compared to Senate SophomoresMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Daines introduced 19 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 117: Alex Diekmann Peak Designation Act …; S. 278: Support for Rapid Innovation Act …; S. 490: A bill to reinstate and …; S. 491: A bill to reinstate and …; S. 685: Clean Water for Rural Communities …; S. 886: DHS Acquisition Review Board Act …; S. 1268: Child Protection and Family Support …; S. 1282: A bill to redesignate certain …; S. 1847: Homeland Security for Children Act; S. 1867: FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017; S. 2160: Protect Collaboration for Healthier Forests …; S. 3071: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2019; S.Res. 60: A resolution designating May 5, …; S.Res. 117: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 199: A resolution designating June 2017 …; S.Res. 401: A resolution designating May 5, …; S.Res. 478: A resolution designating the week …; S.Res. 531: A resolution expressing support for …; S.Res. 568: A resolution designating June 2018 … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); Senate Republicans (70th percentile); All Senators (79th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the most bills compared to Senate SophomoresThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 221: A PLUS Act; S. 605: Litigation Relief for Forest Management …; S. 685: Clean Water for Rural Communities …; S. 697: Tax Relief for Guard and …; S. 932: BASIC Act; S. 949: Wildland Firefighter Recognition Act; S. 998: Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act; S. 1164: Stop Online Booking Scams Act …; S. 1282: A bill to redesignate certain …; S. 1867: FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017; S. 2420: Child Tax Credit for Pregnant …; S. 2970: RURAL Broadband Act of 2018; S. 3035: B-47 Ridge Designation Act; S. 3292: A bill to amend the …; S.J.Res. 29: A joint resolution providing for …; S.J.Res. 46: A joint resolution proposing an … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); Senate Republicans (84th percentile); All Senators (73rd 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 most bills compared to Senate SophomoresIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 42 of Daines’s 66 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Daines caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); Senate Republicans (82nd percentile); All Senators (85th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Held the most committee positions compared to Senate SophomoresDaines 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 Daines’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); Senate Republicans (50th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile). |
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Wrote the most laws compared to Senate Sophomores (tied with 1 other)Daines introduced 7 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. 117: Alex Diekmann Peak Designation Act …; S. 490: A bill to reinstate and …; S. 491: A bill to reinstate and …; S. 1268: Child Protection and Family Support …; S. 1282: A bill to redesignate certain …; S. 1867: FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017; S. 3071: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2019 Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (70th percentile); All Senators (82nd 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 the 2nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate SophomoresDaines’s bills and resolutions had 257 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 Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (60th percentile); All Senators (47th percentile). |
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Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to Senate SophomoresOur 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 Daines’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (85th percentile); Senate Republicans (54th percentile); All Senators (57th percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 6th most often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 5 others)GovTrack looked at whether Daines supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Daines 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Daines cosponsored S. 298: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 3027: Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (62nd percentile); Senate Republicans (78th percentile); All Senators (42nd percentile). |
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Ranked 13th most politically right 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 Daines’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (74th percentile); All Senators (87th percentile). |
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Was 14th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 11 others)Daines missed 0.3% of votes (2 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Daines’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); All Senators (13th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors7 of Daines’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. 886: DHS Acquisition Review Board Act …; S. 887: DHS Multiyear Acquisition Strategy Act …; S. 1164: Stop Online Booking Scams Act …; S. 1282: A bill to redesignate certain …; S. 1847: Homeland Security for Children Act; S. 1867: FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017; S.J.Res. 46: A joint resolution proposing an … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (62nd percentile); Senate Republicans (64th percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredDaines cosponsored 241 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 (54th percentile); Senate Republicans (70th percentile); All Senators (38th percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 241 bills that Daines cosponsored, 27% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (56th percentile); All Senators (44th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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.
