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Sen. Barbara Boxer’s 2014 Report Card

Junior Senator from California
Democrat
Served Jan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 2017

These statistics cover Boxer’s record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare her 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 Boxer’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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Ranked most politically left compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 the 113th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Boxer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Senate Democrats (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Senators (2nd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Of the 310 bills that Boxer cosponsored, 15% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (3rd percentile); Senate Democrats (9th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); All Senators (5th percentile).

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

Held the 2nd most committee positions compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)

Boxer held a leadership position on 2 committees and 1 subcommittee, 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 Boxer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); All Senators (97th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Boxer cosponsored 310 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 (90th percentile); Senate Democrats (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); All Senators (84th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 5th most often compared to All Senators

10 of Boxer’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. 51: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation …; S. 119: Global Democracy Promotion Act; S. 120: Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act; S. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act; S. 462: United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act …; S. 601: Water Resources Development Act of …; S. 1463: Captive Primate Safety Act; S. 2307: International Violence Against Women Act …; S. 2322: MAP-21 Reauthorization Act; S.Res. 506: A resolution recognizing the patriotism …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (91st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); All Senators (95th percentile).

 

Got the 7th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Boxer’s bills and resolutions had 466 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 Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (90th percentile); Senate Democrats (87th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile).

 

Ranked the 7th 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 the 113th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Boxer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (88th percentile); Senate Democrats (87th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile).

 

Introduced the 11th most bills compared to All Senators

Boxer introduced 66 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); All Senators (89th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 13th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 3 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Boxer introduced 11 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 51: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation …; S. 59: Distinguished Flying Cross National Memorial …; S. 120: Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act; S. 146: School and Campus Safety Enhancements …; S. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act; S. 601: Water Resources Development Act of …; S. 1219: Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission …; S. 1463: Captive Primate Safety Act; S. 2322: MAP-21 Reauthorization Act; S. 2673: United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act …; S. 2963: A bill to remove a …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Senate Democrats (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); All Senators (84th percentile).

 

Was 16th most absent in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Boxer missed 6.7% of votes (44 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Boxer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (76th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); All Senators (82nd percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 22nd most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 13 of Boxer’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. 51: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation …; S. 61: California Coastal National Monument Expansion …; S. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act; S. 809: Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act; S. 1463: Captive Primate Safety Act; S. 1598: Pay Our Bills Act; S. 1644: Article 32 Reform Act; S. 1692: Safe Skies Act of 2013; S. 2047: Protecting Children from Electronic Cigarette …; S. 2445: Pause for Safety Act of …; S. 2695: SOS Campus Act; S. 2771: W21; S. 2938: Soledad Canyon Settlement Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (66th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); All Senators (76th percentile).

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

Laws Enacted

Boxer introduced 2 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: S. 330: HIV Organ Policy Equity Act; S. 2673: United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (46th percentile); Senate Democrats (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); All Senators (64th 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.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Boxer tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 33% of Boxer’s 66 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); Senate Democrats (49th percentile); All Senators (57th percentile).

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

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Boxer supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Boxer 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Boxer cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (39th percentile); Senate Democrats (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); All Senators (35th 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.