Sen. Ron Johnson’s 2014 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Wisconsin
Republican
Serving Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2029
These statistics cover Johnson’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 Johnson’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 SophomoresJohnson introduced 7 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the least often compared to Senate Sophomores1 of Johnson’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. 1617: If You Like Your Health … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (7th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the fewest bills compared to Senate SophomoresThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 1617: If You Like Your Health … Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (2nd percentile); All Senators (3rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got the fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate SophomoresJohnson’s bills and resolutions had 48 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 Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (7th percentile); All Senators (4th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 2nd fewest bills compared to Senate SophomoresJohnson cosponsored 150 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 Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (13th percentile); All Senators (12th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 4th least often compared to Senate SophomoresOf the 150 bills that Johnson cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (24th percentile); All Senators (59th 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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Laws EnactedJohnson 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 Sophomores (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. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Johnson introduced 0 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsJohnson 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 Johnson’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (11th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile). |
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Missed VotesJohnson missed 2.9% of votes (19 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Johnson’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); All Senators (62nd percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Johnson supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Johnson 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Johnson cosponsored S. 994: DATA Act Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (60th 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.