Sen. Debbie Stabenow

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Stabenow.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Stabenow is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Stabenow has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to May 2, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Debbie Stabenow sits on the following committees:

• Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chair
  Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade, Conservation, Climate, Forestry, and Natural Resources, Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research, Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security, Rural Development and Energy subcommittees
• Senate Committee on Finance
  • Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure subcommittee Chair

  Health Care, International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness subcommittees
• Joint Committee on Taxation
• Senate Committee on the Budget
• Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
  Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittees

Enacted Legislation

Stabenow was the primary sponsor of 21 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• S. 1278: A bill to designate the Federal building located at 985 Michigan Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, as the “Rosa Parks Federal Building”, and for other purposes.
• S. 1942 (117th): National Heritage Area Act
• S. 452 (117th): Willie O’Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act
• S. 866 (117th): Repairing Existing Public Land by Adding Necessary Trees Act
• S. 2295 (116th): GLRI Act of 2019
• S. 1268 (116th): PACT Act
• S. 950 (116th): PFAS Detection Act of 2019

View All »

Does 21 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Stabenow sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (42%) Agriculture and Food (14%) Taxation (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Environmental Protection (8%) Education (6%) Social Welfare (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Stabenow recently introduced the following legislation:

• S. 4192: A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to permit …
• S.Res. 639: A resolution expressing support for the designation of the month of April 2024 …
• S.Res. 592: A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Social Work Month and World …
• S. 3948: Protecting Against Foreign Adversary Investments Act of 2024
• S. 3738: A bill to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and for other purposes.
• S. 3695: A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to change certain …
• S.Res. 520: A resolution congratulating the University of Michigan Wolverines football team for winning the …

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As Senate Democratic Policy & Communications Committee Chair, Stabenow may be focused on her responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting her party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 2001 to May 2024, Stabenow missed 114 of 7,718 roll call votes, which is 1.5%. This is better than the median of 2.8% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

• unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
• The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
• GPO Member Guide for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills