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Sen. Tim Scott’s 2014 Report Card

Junior Senator from South Carolina
Republican
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2029

These statistics cover Scott’s record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 12, 2015. Although Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA1], Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4], Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10], and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI] served in the 112th Congress, they took office within the last two months of the 112th Congress and here are grouped with other freshmen for the 113th 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 Scott’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 fewest bills compared to Senate Freshmen

Scott introduced 7 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 3rd fewest bills compared to Senate Freshmen (tied with 1 other)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Scott’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. 1909: CHOICE Act

Compare to all Senate Freshmen (12th percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile).

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

Got the 4th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Scott’s bills and resolutions had 25 cosponsors in the 113th 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 Freshmen (6th percentile); Senate Republicans (4th percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 6th least often compared to Senate Republicans

Of the 156 bills that Scott cosponsored, 26% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Freshmen (69th percentile); Senate Republicans (11th percentile); All Senators (47th percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 16th fewest bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Scott cosponsored 156 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 (29th percentile); Senate Republicans (20th percentile); All Senators (15th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 20th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 12 others)

2 of Scott’s bills and resolutions in the 113th 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. 1909: CHOICE Act; S. 2436: Empower Employees Act of 2014

Compare to all Senate Freshmen (47th percentile); Senate Republicans (22nd percentile); All Senators (19th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Scott introduced 0 bills that became law in the 113th Congress. 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).

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. Scott introduced 0 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Senate Freshmen (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Scott held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Scott’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Freshmen (35th percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); All Senators (8th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Scott missed 2.7% of votes (18 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Scott’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Freshmen (71st percentile); All Senators (59th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Scott supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Scott 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 the 113th Congress) 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.