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Sen. Thomas Carper’s 2019 Report Card

Senior Senator from Delaware
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2001 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Carper’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

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 Carper’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 4th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats

Carper introduced 19 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (10th percentile); Senate Democrats (7th percentile); All Senators (14th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 7th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 6 of Carper’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. 375: Payment Integrity Information Act of …; S. 631: Washington, D.C. Admission Act; S. 638: PFAS Action Act of 2019; S. 1333: Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased …; S. 1988: Incentivizing Offshore Wind Power Act; S. 2768: Banning Smoking on Amtrak Act …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (29th percentile); Senate Democrats (13th percentile); All Senators (29th percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 8th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats

Carper cosponsored 237 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 Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); Senate Democrats (16th percentile); All Senators (55th percentile).

 

Ranked 10th most politically right compared to Senate Democrats

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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Carper’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); Senate Democrats (78th percentile); All Senators (36th percentile).

 

Ranked the 10th bottom/follower compared to Senate Democrats

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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Carper’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (29th percentile); Senate Democrats (20th percentile); All Senators (39th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th fewest bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 4 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 13 of Carper’s 19 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Carper caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (29th percentile); Senate Democrats (18th percentile); All Senators (31st percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Got the 11th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 1 other)

Carper’s bills and resolutions had 198 cosponsors in 2019. 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 Serving 10+ Years (29th percentile); Senate Democrats (22nd percentile); All Senators (43rd percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 11th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 2 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Carper introduced 5 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 375: Payment Integrity Information Act of …; S. 435: CASES Act; S. 747: Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of …; S. 1333: Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased …; S.Res. 422: A resolution recognizing November 15, …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); Senate Democrats (36th percentile); All Senators (32nd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Carper introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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. 435: CASES Act

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (10th percentile); Senate Democrats (20th percentile); All Senators (20th 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.
 

Powerful Cosponsors

4 of Carper’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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. 375: Payment Integrity Information Act of …; S. 747: Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of …; S. 1333: Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased …; S.Res. 256: A resolution expressing support for …

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); Senate Democrats (29th percentile); All Senators (42nd percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Carper 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 Carper’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (40th percentile); Senate Democrats (60th percentile); All Senators (67th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 237 bills that Carper cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); Senate Democrats (67th 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.
 

Missed Votes

Carper missed 0.7% of votes (3 of 428 votes) in 2019. View Carper’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); All Senators (30th 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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.