Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s 2014 Report Card
Junior
Senator
from New York
Democrat
Serving Jan 27, 2009 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Gillibrand’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 Gillibrand’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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Got bicameral support on the most bills compared to All SenatorsThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 123: Voter Empowerment Act of 2013; S. 233: A bill to designate the …; S. 377: Never Forget 9/11 Heroes Act; S. 655: Urban Jobs Act of 2013; S. 658: Cyber Warrior Act of 2013; S. 723: Huntington’s Disease Parity Act of …; S. 752: Cody Miller Initiative for Safer …; S. 754: Shellfish Marketing Assistance Fairness Act; S. 775: Mechanical Insulation Installation Incentive Act …; S. 811: Halal and Kosher Food Act …; S. 881: Family Act of 2013; S. 904: Strengthening The Resiliency of Our …; S. 967: Military Justice Improvement Act of …; S. 1066: Federal Student Loan Refinancing Act; S. 1069: Every Child Deserves a Family …; S. 1080: Long Island Sound Restoration and …; S. 1138: A bill to reauthorize the …; S. 1139: Hudson River Valley Special Resource …; S. 1140: A bill to extend the …; S. 1178: Educating Tomorrow’s Engineers Act; S. 1384: American Parks American Products Act; S. 1389: A bill to direct the …; S. 1408: Communities United with Religious leaders …; S. 1810: Family and Medical Insurance Leave …; S. 1975: A bill to amend the …; S. 2056: A bill to designate the …; S. 2057: A bill to designate the …; S. 2167: Computer Science Career Education Act …; S. 2169: Distillery Excise Tax Reform Act …; S. 2318: A bill to reauthorize the …; S. 2527: Summer Meals Act of 2014; S. 2844: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and … Compare to all Senate Democrats (98th percentile); All Senators (99th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to All SenatorsGillibrand cosponsored 384 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 Democrats (92nd percentile); All Senators (96th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 4th lowest % of bills compared to Senate DemocratsGillibrand tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 14% of Gillibrand’s 65 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress. Compare to all Senate Democrats (6th percentile); All Senators (14th 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 5th least often compared to All SenatorsOf the 384 bills that Gillibrand cosponsored, 14% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (8th percentile); All Senators (4th 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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Got influential cosponsors the 5th least often compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 3 others)1 of Gillibrand’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. 1069: Every Child Deserves a Family … Compare to all Senate Democrats (8th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile). |
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Wrote the 5th most laws compared to Senate Democrats (tied with 5 others)Gillibrand introduced 3 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. 233: A bill to designate the …; S. 2056: A bill to designate the …; S. 2057: A bill to designate the … Compare to all Senate Democrats (81st percentile); All Senators (83rd 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. |
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Ranked 9th most politically left compared to All SenatorsOur 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 Gillibrand’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (13th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile). |
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Introduced the 12th most bills compared to All SenatorsGillibrand introduced 65 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (81st percentile); All Senators (88th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Gillibrand introduced 8 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 233: A bill to designate the …; S. 668: A bill to designate the …; S. 1080: Long Island Sound Restoration and …; S. 1752: Military Justice Improvement Act of …; S. 2056: A bill to designate the …; S. 2057: A bill to designate the …; S. 2970: Military Justice Improvement Act of …; S. 2992: Military Justice Improvement Act of … Compare to all Senate Democrats (57th percentile); All Senators (72nd percentile). |
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Committee PositionsGillibrand 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. View Gillibrand’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (25th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile). |
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CosponsorsGillibrand’s bills and resolutions had 309 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 Democrats (60th percentile); All Senators (73rd percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 Gillibrand’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (58th percentile); All Senators (70th percentile). |
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Missed VotesGillibrand missed 1.2% of votes (8 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Gillibrand’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (31st percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Gillibrand supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Gillibrand 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Gillibrand cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 1467: FISA Court Reform Act of … Compare to all Senate Democrats (55th percentile); All Senators (71st 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.