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Sen. Susan Collins’s 2015 Report Card

Senior Senator from Maine
Republican
Serving Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2027

These year-end statistics cover Collins’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her 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 Collins’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 most often compared to Senate Republicans

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 218 bills that Collins cosponsored, 51% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); Senate Republicans (98th percentile); All Senators (95th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Ranked most politically left compared to Senate Republicans

Our 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 Collins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (48th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Senators (42nd percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 2nd most bills compared to Senate Republicans

Collins cosponsored 218 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 (83rd percentile); Senate Republicans (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 9th most often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 3 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Collins supported any of 19 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Collins 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Collins cosponsored S. 366: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 579: Inspector General Empowerment Act of …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (60th percentile); Senate Republicans (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); All Senators (52nd percentile).

 

Introduced the 13th most bills compared to Senate Republicans

Collins introduced 33 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (58th percentile); Senate Republicans (76th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); All Senators (70th percentile).

 

Got the 19th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Collins’s bills and resolutions had 264 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 (68th percentile); Senate Republicans (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); All Senators (81st percentile).

 

Ranked the 25th top leader compared to All Senators

Our 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 Collins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (65th percentile); Senate Republicans (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); All Senators (75th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Collins introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Collins introduced 3 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 534: Immigration Rule of Law Act …; S. 1632: A bill to require a …; S. 1719: RAISE Family Caregivers Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (40th percentile); Senate Republicans (35th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

4 of Collins’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. 30: Forty Hours Is Full Time …; S. 578: Home Health Care Planning Improvement …; S. 1003: Trade Adjustment Assistance Enhancement Act …; S.Res. 257: A resolution congratulating Captain Kristen …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (48th percentile); Senate Republicans (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); All Senators (61st percentile).

 

Working with the House

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 8 of Collins’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the House. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: S. 266: Retirement Security Act of 2015; S. 578: Home Health Care Planning Improvement …; S. 616: Volunteer Emergency Services Recruitment and …; S. 804: Medicare CGM Access Act of …; S. 1516: POWER Act; S. 1828: Federal Information Security Management Reform …; S. 2068: Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act; S.Res. 257: A resolution congratulating Captain Kristen …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (40th percentile); Senate Republicans (59th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Collins tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 39% of Collins’s 33 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (70th percentile); Senate Republicans (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); All Senators (71st percentile).

Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Committee Positions

Collins held a leadership position on 1 committee and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Collins’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Republicans (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43rd percentile); All Senators (66th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Collins missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 339 votes) in 2015. View Collins’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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.