Senate records: Clinton vs. Obama

[snopes]

Let's take a closer look at who's really qualified and or who's really
working for the good of all of us in the Senate. Obama or Clinton.

Records of these two candidates should be scrutinized in order to make an
informed decision.

Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term - 6yrs. - and another
year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law - 20 - twenty
pieces of legislation in her first six years.

These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress
www.thomas.loc.gov, but to save you trouble, I'll post them here for you.

1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site.

2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.

3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall.

5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson.

6. Name post office after Jonn A. O'Shea.

7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day.

8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.

9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of
his death.

10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men's Lacrosse Team on winning
the championship.

11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on
winning the championship.

12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution
Commemorative Program.

13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.

14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express
condolences on her death.

15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who
lost their lives on duty. Only five of Clinton's bills are, more
substantive. 16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of
9/11.

17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11 18. Assist landmine
victims in other countries.

19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.

20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as
protected in the wilderness preservation system.

There you have it, the fact's straight from the Senate Record.

Now, I would post those of Obama's, but the list is too substantive, so
I'll mainly categorize.

During the first - 8 - eight years of his elected service he sponsored
over 820 bills. He introduced

233 regarding healthcare reform,

125 on poverty and public assistance,

112 crime fighting bills,

97 economic bills,

60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills,

21 ethics reform bills,

15 gun control,

6 veterans affairs and many others.

His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored
another 427. These included:

**the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency
Act of 2006 - became law,
**The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, - became law,
**The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate,
**The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, - became law,
**The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, In committee,

and many more.

In all, since entering the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890
bills and co-sponsored another 1096.

An impressive record, for someone who supposedly has no record according
to some who would prefer that this comparison not be made public.

He's not just a talker.

He's a doer.

Pass it on....It's impressive

[I'mNotDedalus]

First of all, the web address is http://thomas.loc.gov/ (no www).

Secondly, the author deceptively & inaccurately compares legislation that Clinton has authored/sponsored and successfully passed into law merely with the number of sponsorships Obama has on his tally.

This site seems to present a more accurate breakdown of the 2006-2007 numbers, also using THOMAS to compile the figures:

Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham
Total Sponsored Legislative Items: 150
Total Items Passed into Law: 53
% Success = 53/150 = 35.3%

Sen Obama, Barack
Total Sponsored Legislative Items: 113
Total Items Passed into Law: 47
% Success = 47/113 = 41.6%

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Given the role of legislators belonging to the opposition party, perhaps the lower success rate should be admired... (Only half joking.)

Silas

[Malruhn]

I can also see this being totally true... but misrepresented.

Most of the stuff on the Clinton list seem to be add-ons to other bills. No, I have no cites, nor did I look anything up, but things like the Purple Heart Memorial Day seem like an item that would be tacked on to a "real" bill. So, in effect, her record would be things like:

Highway funding bill for extra $47 million dollars (and also named a Courthouse after Thurgood Marshall)
Budget authorization to fund state Emergency Operations Centers (and also designated Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day)
Etcetera.

(By the way, I hate e-mails like this!!)

[keokuk]

It's a nitpicky pet peeve of mine as a legislative procedure wonk, but I hate when people confuse bills, amendments and resolutions. They are completely different procedurally, require completely different types of negotiations to get them passed, and often have different effects and degrees of opposition.

This type of confusion leads me to believe that the OP was written by someone who was misinformed on what he or she was reading, rather than intending to mislead people. For example, it seems to give Obama credit for the 2006 immigration bill that passed the Senate, listing him as a co-sponsor. However, he didn't co-sponsor the bill. He sponsored three amendments that made it into the final legislation and voted in favor of the bill, but it is simply inaccurate to list him as a co-sponsor of the underlying legislation itself. It does the same thing with the 2007 reform bill. Obama sponsored an amendment that strengthened the legislation by a great deal, but he was not a co-sponsor of the underlying bill itself. (In fact, if I recall, he actually threatened to vote against the underlying bill if it was not strengthened, which is the reason that Harry Reid assigned him to write the amendment that would make it closer to the higher standards enacted by the House.)

[keokuk]

Substance Abuse
Newsweek

We find that the e-mail is false in almost every particular:

It sets up a face-off between apples and, well, broccoli, comparing only the Clinton-sponsored bills that became law with all bills sponsored or cosponsored by Obama, whether they were signed into law or not.

It includes legislation Obama sponsored in the Illinois state Senate, a very different legislative body.

It tells us that Obama has sponsored more legislation than Clinton, when in fact he has sponsored less.

It implies that Obama has passed more bills into law than Clinton, when the opposite is true.
Contrary to the e-mail's assertions, Clinton's and Obama's contributions are not qualitatively different, and quantitatively, Clinton has the edge.

[RBCal]

A better comparison would be Clinton vs McCain and Obama vs McCain. One of those will be the actual choices in November.