Sen. Brian Schatz

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Schatz 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 legislators have sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Nov 21, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Brian Schatz sits on the following committees:

• Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chair
• Senate Committee on Appropriations
  • Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies subcommittee Chair

  Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittees
• Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  Communications, Media, and Broadband, Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, Oceans, Fisheries, Climate Change, and Manufacturing, Surface Transportation, Maritime, Freight, and Ports subcommittees
• Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
  Africa and Global Health Policy, East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy subcommittees
• Senate Select Committee on Ethics

Enacted Legislation

Schatz was the primary sponsor of 16 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• S. 2437: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024
• S. 989 (117th): Native American Language Resource Center Act of 2022
• S. 1402 (117th): Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2022
• S. 4670 (117th): Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023
• S. 4576 (117th): Norman Y. Mineta Japanese American Confinement Education Act
• S. 3533 (117th): Volcanic Ash and Fumes Act of 2022
• S. 2629 (117th): Better Cybercrime Metrics Act

View All »

Does 16 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

Schatz sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (20%) Government Operations and Politics (16%) Native Americans (14%) Commerce (11%) Science, Technology, Communications (10%) Education (10%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (10%) Crime and Law Enforcement (10%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Schatz recently introduced the following legislation:

• S.Res. 897: A resolution recognizing National Native American Heritage Month and celebrating the heritages and …
• S.Res. 857: A resolution expressing concern about the spreading problem of book banning and the …
• S.Res. 840: A resolution supporting the designation of the week of September 15 through September …
• S. 5017: Safeguarding American Families and Expanding Social Security Act of 2024
• S. 4901: Improving Flood and Agricultural Forecasts Act of 2024
• S. 4886: Native Arts and Culture Promotion Act
• S. 4796: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As Senate Democratic Conference Deputy Secretary, Schatz may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Dec 2012 to Dec 2024, Schatz missed 129 of 4,092 roll call votes, which is 3.2%. This is on par with the median of 2.9% 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