Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2013 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from Texas
Republican
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Cruz’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.
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 Cruz’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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Held the most committee positions compared to Senate Freshmen (tied with 1 other)Cruz 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. 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 Cruz’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (87th percentile); Senate Republicans (11th percentile); All Senators (18th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 3rd most often compared to Senate RepublicansMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cruz introduced 7 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 177: ObamaCare Repeal Act; S. 505: A bill to prohibit the …; S. 729: Disarm Criminals and Protect Communities …; S. 730: Firearm Straw Purchasing and Trafficking …; S. 1292: Defund Obamacare Act of 2013; S. 1336: A bill to amend the …; S. 1661: A bill to require the … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (93rd percentile); Senate Republicans (93rd percentile); All Senators (86th percentile). |
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Introduced the 3rd most bills compared to Senate FreshmenCruz introduced 11 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (80th percentile); Senate Republicans (31st percentile); All Senators (24th percentile). |
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Got the 3rd most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate FreshmenCruz’s bills and resolutions had 129 cosponsors in 2013. 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 Freshmen (80th percentile); Senate Republicans (67th percentile); All Senators (54th percentile). |
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Ranked the 3rd top leader compared to Senate FreshmenOur 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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cruz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (80th percentile); Senate Republicans (47th percentile); All Senators (35th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 3rd fewest bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 1 other)Cruz cosponsored 66 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 Freshmen (13th percentile); Senate Republicans (4th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 7th lowest % of bills compared to All SenatorsCruz tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 9% of Cruz’s 11 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013. Compare to all Senate Republicans (10th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 10th least often compared to Senate RepublicansOf the 66 bills that Cruz cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (77th percentile); Senate Republicans (20th percentile); All Senators (57th 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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Was 10th most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)Cruz missed 5.5% of votes (16 of 291 votes) in 2013. View Cruz’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Freshmen (87th percentile); All Senators (88th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedCruz introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Powerful Cosponsors1 of Cruz’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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.Res. 225: A resolution to express the … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (53rd percentile); Senate Republicans (18th percentile); All Senators (18th percentile). |
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Working with the HouseThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 505: A bill to prohibit the …; S. 1292: Defund Obamacare Act of 2013; S. 1594: A bill to designate the … Compare to all Senate Freshmen (60th percentile); Senate Republicans (38th percentile); All Senators (30th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cruz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (73rd percentile); Senate Republicans (36th percentile); All Senators (71st percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Cruz supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Cruz 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
