How good is Senator Tim Kaine at getting bills passed? His Republican opponent says he's not very effective, although the record shows several significant accomplishments.
During a recent televised debate, Republican candidate Hung Cao tried to make the case that of the hundreds of bills Senator Tim Kaine introduced...
"Only three of them made it through."
"That's completely wrong," Kaine argued.
"That's a 99% failure rate," Cao replied.
"Check the tape on that," Kaine said. "That's completely wrong."
When asked where they got that number, the Cao campaign sent a link to Tim Kaine's official Congressional page with a filter for "sponsored legislation" and "became law." Only three of Kaine's bills met that criteria, which is actually more than many senators. By that metric, even the most successful senators have a 99% failure rate.
"The key is being able to get your bill attached to a vehicle that's moving because the way Congress operates is that they end up passing these big bills that are actually 40 or 50 or 60 bills rolled together in one omnibus bill," says David Hallock, a former chief of staff to Senator Mark Warner. "And that'll have one person's name on it — usually someone from leadership."
A spokesman for the Kaine campaign says some of the senator's most important work is on bills that he did not sponsor, including efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking, reduce tobacco use among kids and helping military spouses. He also pointed out that the Center for Effective Lawmaking at the University of Virginia says Kaine was the most effective Democrat in the 117th Congress for getting health legislation passed into law.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
