Sen. David Vitter’s 2016 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Louisiana
Republican
Served Jan 4, 2005 – Jan 3, 2017
These statistics cover Vitter’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.
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 Vitter’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 most bills compared to All SenatorsVitter introduced 140 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); Senate Republicans (98th percentile); All Senators (99th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 3rd most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 42: Stopping Illegal Obamacare Subsidies Act; S. 51: Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition …; S. 54: Regulatory Fairness Act of 2015; S. 61: Kisatchie National Forest Land Conveyance …; S. 66: A bill to prohibit any …; S. 67: Restoring Main Street Investor Protection …; S. 73: Local Control of Education Act; S. 99: Notch Fairness Act of 2015; S. 106: Ending Legacy Lawsuit Abuse Act; S. 118: Stopping Illegal Obamacare Subsidies Act; S. 234: Regulatory Fairness Act of 2015; S. 768: Steve Gleason Act of 2015; S. 798: Policyholder Protection Act of 2015; S. 984: Steve Gleason Act of 2015; S. 1020: Diagnostic Imaging Services Access Protection …; S. 1151: USPSTF Transparency and Accountability Act …; S. 1308: A bill to amend chapter …; S. 1351: Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act; S. 1388: Cuba Normalization Accountability Act of …; S. 1795: National Disaster Tax Relief Act …; S. 2005: Social Security Disability Insurance and …; S. 2284: Syrian Refugee Verification and Safety …; S. 3487: Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for …; S.Res. 225: A resolution honoring the National …; S.J.Res. 1: A joint resolution proposing an …; S.J.Res. 21: A joint resolution proposing an … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); Senate Republicans (93rd percentile); All Senators (95th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Was 5th most absent in votes compared to All SenatorsVitter missed 15.1% of votes (76 of 502 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Vitter’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); All Senators (95th percentile). |
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Ranked 5th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ YearsOur 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 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Vitter’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); Senate Republicans (74th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile). |
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Got the 6th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Senate RepublicansVitter’s bills and resolutions had 458 cosponsors in the 114th 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 Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); Senate Republicans (89th percentile); All Senators (86th percentile). |
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Ranked the 9th top leader compared to All SenatorsOur 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 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Vitter’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); Senate Republicans (89th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 8th most often compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 3 others)GovTrack looked at whether Vitter supported any of 22 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Vitter 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Vitter sponsored S. 18: A bill to prohibit authorized … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); Senate Republicans (80th percentile); All Senators (56th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 11th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Vitter introduced 14 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 984: Steve Gleason Act of 2015; S. 999: Small Business Development Centers Improvement …; S. 1292: HUBZone Revitalization Act of 2015; S. 1470: RISE After Disaster Act of …; S. 1866: Veterans Small Business Ownership Improvements …; S. 2136: Improving Small Business Innovative Research …; S. 2138: Small Business Subcontracting Transparency Act …; S. 2139: Small Contractors Improve Competition Act …; S. 2146: Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect …; S. 2831: A bill to amend the …; S. 2838: Small Business Transforming America’s Regions …; S. 2992: Small Business Lending Oversight Act …; S. 3024: Small Business Cyber Security Improvements …; S.Res. 252: An original resolution expressing the … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); Senate Republicans (83rd percentile); All Senators (88th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 13th most bills compared to Senate RepublicansVitter cosponsored 258 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 Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); Senate Republicans (76th percentile); All Senators (53rd percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 16th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 21 of Vitter’s 140 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); Senate Republicans (83rd percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 22nd least often compared to All SenatorsOf the 258 bills that Vitter cosponsored, 19% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); Senate Republicans (39th percentile); All Senators (21st 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 EnactedVitter introduced 3 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th 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. 984: Steve Gleason Act of 2015; S. 1470: RISE After Disaster Act of …; S. 2036: Equity in Government Compensation Act … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); Senate Republicans (50th percentile); All Senators (58th percentile). The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill. |
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Powerful Cosponsors7 of Vitter’s bills and resolutions in the 114th 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. 48: Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2015; S. 1866: Veterans Small Business Ownership Improvements …; S. 2139: Small Contractors Improve Competition Act …; S. 2838: Small Business Transforming America’s Regions …; S. 2992: Small Business Lending Oversight Act …; S.Res. 243: A resolution celebrating the 35th …; S.J.Res. 21: A joint resolution proposing an … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (62nd percentile); Senate Republicans (69th percentile); All Senators (70th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsVitter held a leadership position on 1 committee and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Vitter’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); Senate Republicans (72nd percentile); All Senators (66th 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 114th Congress) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
