Fact Checker: Just how effective was Bernie Sanders with a Republican Congress?

[FreakinDJ]

Fact Checker: Just how effective was Bernie Sanders with a Republican Congress?


“Bernie Sanders passed more amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member.”

Source of claim: “Effective,” an ad paid for by Bernie 2016 Campaign Committee in support of Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The research identifies the top 10 senators for 1995-2005. Sanders ranked No. 1 at sponsoring successful amendments, edging out Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, with 16; Rep. Christopher Smith, R-NJ, with 14; and Benjamin Gilman, R-NY, with 13, according to the data.

The Fact Checker independently researched the votes using a congressional database.

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/politics/election/iowa-caucus/fact-checker-just-how-effective-was-bernie-sanders-with-a-republican-congress-20160108

[merrily]

1. How many bills or amendments that Hillary wrote became law

that were not "ceremonial," like re-naming a post office or observing the anniversary of the American Revolution?

[riversedge]

2. The OP is about Bernie and rated only a 'D'

[FreakinDJ]

3. I guess in that respect HRC would score an F

She passed FEWER and of less importance

[merrily]

5. I know what the Op is about. It is not about Bernie's wardrobe.

[pangaia]

7. DAMN you ARE good. REALLY REALLY good. !!

[merrily]

8. Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you.

[Duval]

10. I always look forward to your comments and posts, merrily!

[merrily]

12. Why, thank you. I had no idea.

[PatrynXX]

14. Not sure we wanna go there

although my brother is High Maintenance , shave put on the perfume spend an hour in the shower etc. pretty much kills any stereotype one has about females and being in the bathroom/shower for an hour. I'll just move over here..

[merrily]

17. I could just as easily have said "Bernie's lawn mower, but nooooo. I had to pick

something controversial.

[artislife]

15. Why like comparisons, it is primary season

We can think about more than one subject at a time.

And we do, it is obvious, because we support the best candidate out there--Bernie Sanders.

[Sunlei]

21. This many.

Bill Type check all


Bills (H.R. or S.) 2,343


Amendments (H.Amdt. or S.Amdt.) 1,043


Resolutions (H.Res. or S.Res.) 732


Concurrent Resolutions (H.Con.Res. or S.Con.Res.) 279


Joint Resolutions (H.J.Res. or S.J.Res.) 57

[merrily]

22. How many of those are substantive (not like re-naming a post office or remembering the

anniversary of the Revolution)?

[dsc]

4. kind of a chickenshit fact check

but many are.

[Sunlei]

6. you can check here about both Mrs. Clinton and Sanders.

Here's Congress you'll have to search around yourself and find the Senate votes/sponsorships and the SOS records. And the old records from when Mrs. Clinton was a Senator of New York.

https://www.congress.gov/

[artislife]

16. She initiated and passed 3 bills of no consequence. Check it. nt

[merrily]

18. What you find online is mostly about bills co-sponsored, which doesn't take much.

[Sunlei]

20. No their entire record is there for example-

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/


edit to add another 'all' with Hillary Clinton. look on the left, hundreds of results.

https://www.congress.gov/search?q=%7B%22congress%22%3A%22all%22%2C%22source%22%3A%22all%22%2C%22search%22%3A%22hillary%20clinton%22%7D

[merrily]

23. She did NOT write hundreds of bills and amendment that became law. More like 3 or 4, ceremonial.

Reply 16 is correct.

[Historic NY]

9. Forgot this part........

Voice votes and roll call votes serve different purposes, but the Sanders ad didn’t make clear his reference was to a subset of amendments when claiming he “passed more amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member.”

In our review, which was not exhaustive, we found at least one Democratic colleague — Rep. Traficant — who in fewer terms passed far more amendments.

It’s true the Vermont senator is more prolific than many lawmakers at sponsoring successful amendments, particularly more consequential ones requiring roll-call votes, but taken at face value the claim is off the mark.

Fact Checker scores this claim a D.


Ben Gilman was my Congressman he was was in office until he hit age 79 when the Republicans redistricted him. He's still alive at 94 and live at the local VA hospital.

[tecelote]

19. Yeah, what's up?

"In our review, which was not exhaustive, we found at least one Democratic colleague — Rep. Traficant — who in fewer terms passed far more amendments. "

So, there is maybe one, depending on how you look at it. That deserves a D becuase Bernie might be #2?

Let's call it an A-.

[Historic NY]

24. Traficant

he's the only guy to run for Congress from prison....LOL.

[Duval]

11. K&R!

[Gman]

13. That's a very irrelevant and extremely simpleton

Way to describe the president's interaction with Congress.

It means nothing

[libdem4life]

25. Thank you. Indeed.