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Sen. Sherrod Brown’s 2014 Report Card

Senior Senator from Ohio
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Brown’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 Brown’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 the 2nd 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 Brown’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); All Senators (98th percentile).

 

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

Brown’s bills and resolutions had 578 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 (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); All Senators (96th percentile).

 

Ranked 4th 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 Brown’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (6th percentile); All Senators (9th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 6th most bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Brown cosponsored 316 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 (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile).

 

Introduced the 6th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Brown introduced 69 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); All Senators (92nd percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 9th most bills compared to All Senators

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 18 of Brown’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. 569: Improving Access to Medicare Coverage …; S. 679: Local Farms, Food, and Jobs …; S. 1022: A bill to amend title …; S. 1226: SECTORS Act of 2013; S. 1242: HOME Act of 2013; S. 1368: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) …; S. 1540: A bill to amend title …; S. 1645: Mobile Workforce State Income Tax …; S. 1896: Manufacturing Communities Investment Act; S. 2046: Access to Hearing Healthcare Act …; S. 2552: Medicare Advantage Participant Bill of …; S. 2610: John P. Parker House Study …; S. 2694: Ensuring Access to Primary Care …; S. 2730: Mental Health Exposure Military Official …; S. 2775: A bill to amend the …; S. 2895: Pay What You Owe Before …; S. 2913: A bill to designate the …; S. 2922: Hong Kong Human Rights and …

Compare to all Senate Democrats (87th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 11th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 5 others)

8 of Brown’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. 381: A bill to award a …; S. 635: Privacy Notice Modernization Act of …; S. 836: Working Families Tax Relief Act …; S. 1369: A bill to provide additional …; S. 1468: Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation …; S. 2746: Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement …; S.Res. 13: A resolution congratulating the members …; S.Res. 418: A resolution to honor Gallaudet …

Compare to all Senate Democrats (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); All Senators (84th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Brown introduced 1 bill 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. 2913: A bill to designate the …

Compare to all Senate Democrats (32nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); All Senators (32nd 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. Brown introduced 5 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 1214: All-American Flag Act; S. 1468: Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation …; S. 1556: A bill to amend title …; S. 2323: Gold Star Fathers Act of …; S. 2922: Hong Kong Human Rights and …

Compare to all Senate Democrats (45th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); All Senators (60th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Brown tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 42% of Brown’s 69 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); Senate Democrats (71st percentile); All Senators (74th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Brown 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 Brown’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (6th percentile); All Senators (19th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 316 bills that Brown cosponsored, 19% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (55th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Senators (30th percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Brown missed 1.5% of votes (10 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Brown’s Profile »

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (41st percentile); All Senators (39th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Brown supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Brown 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Senate Democrats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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.