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Few Bills, but Many Nominees, Approved Last Year

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Few Bills, but Many Nominees, Approved Last Year VOTE STUDIES Few Bills, but Many Nominees, Approved Last Year Nothing worked for Democrats in 2014. setting records for its opposition to the presi- In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of dent. Of 66 House votes on which Obama Nevada tried to shield his caucus from tough had a view in 2014, only 10 went Obama’s MIRROR IMAGES votes, limiting amendments and keeping the way, a 15.2 percent success rate that is the President Barack Obama won on House agenda focused on only the issues that Dem- lowest in the 61 years that CQ Roll Call has votes at the lowest rate in the 61 years ocrats wanted to run on in November, such been tracking presidential success. The aver- that CQ Roll Call has been tracking as equal pay for women and an increased age Republican representative voted with presidential votes. Because of a glut minimum wage. It didn’t help. Endangered Obama 12 percent of the time, matching the of nomination votes, Obama’s Senate Democrats in the South and West were ham- record low that the party set in 2013. score was the second highest ever. mered in the midterm elections for sticking Because of the 60-vote threshold needed with Reid and President Barack Obama. to advance controversial legislation, Obama Share of votes on which the In the House, Republican Speaker John A. also had a bad year in the Senate on policy president took a clear position: Boehner of Ohio pushed through bill after votes. His 55 percent success rate on them House Senate bill designed to please the GOP’s base and was his lowest ever. 11.7% 39.6% pressure moderate Democrats to pick sides. But look at the Senate voting more broad- second-highest most since since The bills aimed to scale back government ly and it tells a different story. When confir- 1999 1968 regulation, overturn the 2010 health care law mation votes are added to the policy votes, and overhaul the bureaucracy. While they Obama succeeded 93.1 percent of the time, 66 out of 562 145 out of 366 died in the Senate, the GOP won its largest the second-highest success score in the his- Average for both chambers: 22.7% House majority since the 71st Congress of tory of CQ’s survey, trailing only Obama’s 1929-31. 98.7 percent score in 2009, when he enjoyed For Obama, it meant that 2014 was a lost a huge Democratic congressional majority. How often the president won: year for policy. With the Senate and House This time, it was the result of Senate Demo- House Senate unable to agree on substantive issues beyond crats’ 2013 decision to drop the threshold 93.1% 15.2% funding the government and a new farm bill, for approving most judicial and executive second- lowest on record highest Obama had little to sign and nothing to veto. branch nominees from 60 votes to a simple on record Gridlock on Capitol Hill was the dominant majority. theme, except in one respect: The Senate Reid took up 125 nominees, the most 10 out of 66 135 out of 145 voted to confirm a record number of judi- since CQ began tracking nomination votes Average for both chambers: 68.7% cial and executive nominees because a rule in 1988. The Senate confirmed 124 of them, change made it hard to filibuster. boosting senators’ presidential support When the government is divided, especial- scores on both sides of the aisle. Republicans Average chamber ly a government riven by polarized parties, it’s voted against Obama uniformly on the policy presidential support scores: a recipe for gridlock, says Scot Schraufnagel, votes where the president had a view, but House Senate a political scientist at Northern Illinois Uni- there were only 20 of those. Because many of 100% 100% 80 80 versity. “It’s easier for the parties to pass the the nominees were not controversial, the av- 60 60 buck and say they’re not accountable for the erage Republican senator voted with Obama 40 40 20 20 lack of action.” 55 percent of the time. That was the highest 0 0 In most ways, the votes that Congress level of support from GOP senators since D 81% D 95% took in 2014 on the issues that Obama cared Obama took office. Fourth-highest on record Second-highest on (Obama holds top six record (Obama holds about back up that point. The average Senate scores) top six scores) Democrat voted with Obama on 95 percent lITTlE TO SHOW R 12% R 55% Ties last year's record low Second-highest support of the votes on which the president had a Obama was surely happy to have his nomi- of a Democratic president position, close to the record score of 96 per- nees in place, but that didn’t alter the reality (to Clinton's 60% in 1997) cent in 2013. But the Republican House was that 2014 was one of the least productive B-2 2013 CQ ALMANAC | www.cq.com SUMMARY / GUIDE TO ANALYSIS Selecting votes CQ Roll Call bases its legislative years in modern times. vote studies on all floor votes for which The consensus politics that existed in the United States when CQ began its vote studies senators and House members were in 1953 is long over, as is the ideological overlap between the parties. The final remnants of asked to vote “yea” or “nay.” In 2014, it, the Southern Democrat and Northern Republican, are, with each election cycle, moving there were 562 such roll call votes in toward extinction. Without them, gridlock reigns, a function of polarization and an American the House and 366 in the Senate. The system of government that allows both parties to control levers of power at the same time. House total excludes the one quorum The ideological sorting of the electorate by region, combined with political parties that call in 2014 and one vote that was later vacated. are now associated with clear positions on the issues, has made it increasingly difficult for The House total counts all votes on pro- mavericks to stand apart. cedural matters, including votes to ap- Consider the situation of Senate Democrats in 2014. Examining how often a senator sup- prove the journal (eight in 2014). In the ports the position of a president from the same party on the votes where the president has Senate, there was one vote to instruct made his view known is usually a reliable way to separate the moderates from the partisans. the sergeant at arms to request senators But in 2014, that wasn’t so. A review of the leading scorers for presidential support reveals to come to the floor. some oddities. Sure, one would expect a party leader like Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin The presidential support and party unity to head the list, and he did vote with Obama on every vote where the president took a posi- studies are based on a set of votes se- tion in 2014. But, according to CQ’s statistics, Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia stuck just as lected according to the criteria detailed close to Obama as Durbin did. And Kaine was a hair more loyal to Obama than Democrats on pages 31 and 41. who might normally seem fiercer partisans, such as Barbara Boxer of California or Charles Individual scores Member scores are E. Schumer of New York. based only on the votes each actually In reality, every Democrat in the Senate was sharply partisan in 2014. The lowest scorer, Joe cast. This makes individual support and Manchin III of West Virginia, sided with Obama on 89 percent of votes. The differences be- opposition scores total 100 percent. The tween senators often came down to a vote on a single judge or executive branch appointment. same method is used to identify the It’s so hard to use the presidential support study to make meaningful distinctions between leading scorers on pages 30 and 40. Democratic senators in 2014 because Reid allowed so few votes on policy issues or amend- ments. The policy votes were typically on issues on which Democrats planned to run in 2014, Overall scores To be consistent with such as ensuring equal pay for women or raising the minimum wage. Without amendments previous years, calculations of average scores by chamber and party are based to make distinctions on tricky issues, those were easy yes votes for Democrats. on all eligible votes, whether or not all But Reid’s legislative strategy, in the end, was a bust. The campaign turned not on the is- members cast a “yea” or “nay.” The lack sues that Democratic senators tried to frame with their few policy votes but on Democrats’ of participation by lawmakers in a roll loyalty to Obama. And Republicans were eager to point out that on the vast majority of votes, call vote reduces chamber and party losing incumbents including Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and average support and opposition scores. Mark Begich of Alaska were aligned with the president. The nuance — that they’d hardly had As a result, chamber and party averages a chance to distinguish themselves from more liberal colleagues — was lost. are not strictly comparable with individ- “The electoral bet was that we can be Democrats like those in Minnesota or Massachusetts ual member scores, which are calculated and still win in Louisiana or Arkansas,” says Steven Schier, a political science professor at differently. (Methodology, 1987 Almanac, Carleton College in Minnesota. For Democrats, it was a losing bet.
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