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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Bernie Sanders stated on February 13, 2016 in an a television ad: \"Bernie Sanders passed more roll call amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" true/3d4df195c595a07e3fd69b5e4aab3e3c.jpg.\\") ![\\"true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * National * Candidate Biography * Bernie Sanders ![\\"Linda](\\" By Linda Qiu March 24, 2016 # Bernie Sanders was the roll call amendment king from 1995 to 2007 Bernie Sanders is often criticized for \"pie-in-the-sky\" proposals and impractical ideals, but his campaign argues the Vermont senator actually gets things done. \"Bernie Sanders passed more roll call amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member,\" according to a TV ad paid for by the Sanders campaign. A version of this ad appears on Sanders’ YouTube channel, and Sanders has made this claim on Twitter and Facebook as well so we wondered if it was true. The Sanders campaign didn’t get back to us, but we found that this carefully worded statement is accurate for his earlier years in Congress. The ‘amendment king’ Sanders served in the House of Representatives from 1991 to 2006 and has been in the Senate since then. Republicans were in control of the House from 1995 to 2007 and of the Senate from 2015 to present. In 2005, Rolling Stone named Sanders the \"amendment king\" of the House. At the time, the title held true with a specific qualification: amendments agreed to by record votes. (Amendments can also be passed with voice votes, in which the volume of yeas and nays dictates passage, or by unanimous consent, in which no one raises an objection.) Out of 419 amendments Sanders sponsored over his 25 years in Congress, 90 passed, 21 of them by roll call votes. Here’s a breakdown (bold indicates Republican Congresses): Total amendments passed Passed by roll call vote 2015 to present 4 1 2007 to 2015 37 3 1995 to 2007 49 17 1991 to 1995 0 0 Total 90 21 From 1995 to 2007, Sanders passed 17 amendments by a recorded roll call vote — more than any other member in the House. Ohio Democrat James Traficant came in second with 16 roll call amendments, but he served five less years than Sanders after being indicted on several corruption charges in 2002 and then expelled from Congress. If we look at all amendments, not just those passed by roll call votes, Traficant passed 72 more than Sanders. New Jersey Republican Chris Smith, who served in the same time period as Sanders, finished third with 14 roll call amendments (and 32 overall amendments). Craig Volden, an expert on the legislative process at the University of Virginia, told PolitiFact that records like these are rather unusual in the House. \"There are so few members with large numbers of substantive and successful amendments,\" he said. \"Sanders and Traficant were exceptions to that rule.\" In comparison, Hillary Clinton passed zero roll call amendments during her tenure as a senator from New York from 2001-09. Overall effectiveness In the current Congress, Sanders ranks fourth when it comes to the number of career roll call amendments passed, according GovTrack founder, Josh Tauberer. The three lawmakers who top him are Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., with 27 in 15 years in Congress; Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., with 24 in 33 years; and Rep Steve King, R-Iowa, with 22 in 13 years. Roll call amendments aside, Sanders isn’t shattering any legislative records, though he’s not doing poorly either. Tauberer’s research places Sanders at No. 14 in Congress with 90 amendments. The other senator from Vermont, Democrat Patrick Leahy, on the other hand, has passed 226. Of course, amendments are just one of the ways lawmakers press their agendas. Sanders has had much less luck with passing bills. During his 25 years in Congress, Sanders introduced 324 bills, three of which became law. This includes a bill in a Republican Congress naming a post office in Vermont and two more while Democrats had control (one naming another Vermont post office and another increasing veterans’ disability compensation). Clinton, for the record, also passed three bills in eight years. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on September 11, 2024 in an Instagram post \"Debate moderators made the false claim to Donald Trump that there is nowhere in the United States where abortion is legal up until birth.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 But the sparse number of bills isn’t surprising. Volden and Vanderbilt University’s Alan Wiseman assess the legislative effectiveness of House members by comparing their records to a benchmark. According to this analysis, Sanders has either met or exceeded expectations during his tenure in the House (bold indicates Republican Congresses): Congress Grade Benchmark score Effectiveness score 1991-1992 Meets expectations 0.422 0.335 1993-1994 Meets expectations 0.411 0.219 1995-1996 Exceeds expectations 0.199 0.463 1997-1998 Exceeds expectations 0.258 0.347 1999-2000 Meets expectations 0.397 0.231 2001-2002 Meets expectations 0.439 0.343 2003-2004 Meets expectations 0.493 0.266 2005-2006 Meets expectations 0.514 0.379 Lawmakers who belong to the party in control are five times more likely to have their bills go anywhere than minority party members, according to Volden. So Sanders’ legislative approach may seem like fixating on small potatoes, but for an independent who caucuses with the minority party, it’s a smart strategy. \"He could have either resigned himself to that fate, changed the nature of his legislation and coalition-building strategy, or offered amendments on the floor,\" Volden said. \"He chose the third of these paths, making him more influential in shaping policy than if he had taken the first path. Why he did not take the second path is an open question — likely linked to his ideological views.\" Our ruling A campaign ad for Sander said, \"Bernie Sanders passed more roll call amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member.\" That’s a very specific way of slicing and dicing Sanders’ effectiveness as a lawmaker, but it’s accurate. From 1995 to 2007, when Republicans controlled Congress, Sanders passed the most roll call amendments (17) out of anyone in the House of Representatives. We rate his claim True. Share the Facts Politifact ![\\"Politifact\\"](\\" logo-big.jpg\\"/) 1 7 ![\\"Politifact](\\" facts/rating_images/politifact/tom-true.png\\") Politifact Rating: True \"Bernie Sanders passed more roll call amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member.\" Bernie Sanders Presidential candidate ![](\\" In a television ad Saturday, February 13, 2016 02/13/2016 Read More info #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Political TV Ad Archive, Bernie Sanders ad, Feb. 13, 2016 Rolling Stone, \"Inside the Horror Show That Is Congress,\" Aug. 25, 2005 Congress.gov searches PolitiFact analysis of amendments passed by Bernie Sanders The Lawmakers searches Email interview with Josh Tauberer, founder and researcher at GovTrack, March 7, 2016 Email interview with Craig Volden, professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia, March 15, 2016 The Gazette, \"Fact Checker: Just how effective was Bernie Sanders with a Republican Congress?\" Jan. 8, 2016 New York Times, \"Via Legislative Side Doors, Bernie Sanders Won Modest Victories,\" March 14, 2016 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Linda Qiu ![](\\" ![](\\" Danielle Nierenberg stated on January 9, 2017 in a tweet: \"Tanzania farmers face 12 years in prison for trading seeds thanks to foreign aid.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • February 10, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on February 1, 2017 in tweets : Says Melania Trump’s security detail at Trump Tower costs more than the annual budget for the National Endowment for the Arts. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • February 8, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on February 5, 2017 in an interview with Bill O\'Reilly: Says \"109 people out of hundreds of thousands of travelers\" were affected by the immigration executive order. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Linda Qiu • February 6, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on February 1, 2017 in a tweet: \"The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • February 2, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Sean Spicer stated on January 30, 2017 in a daily press briefing: The language that\'s part of the president\'s National Security Council memo \"is identical to the language\" used by President George W. Bush in 2001 and President Barack Obama in 2009. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 31, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on January 29, 2017 in a statement: \"My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 30, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on January 27, 2017 in an interview with CBN: \"If you were a Muslim, you could come in, if you were a Christian, it was impossible.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Linda Qiu • January 29, 2017 ![](\\" brown_3/d957b67a6cfb99961ae39c6523da7812.jpg\\") ![](\\" brown_3/6e29f64b18a0e689f0b6901d76f846bb.jpg\\") Jerry Brown stated on January 24, 2017 in his State of the State address: \"One hundred and ninety-four countries signed the Paris Agreement to control greenhouse gases. Our own voluntary agreement to accomplish the same goal — the Under2 MOU — has 165 signatories, representing a billion people.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 26, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ashley Judd stated on January 21, 2017 in a speech at the Women\'s March.: \"Pads and tampons (are) still taxed when Viagra and Rogaine are not.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 22, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Sean Spicer stated on January 21, 2017 in a press conference: \"That was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period.\" ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 22, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on January 14, 2017 in a tweet: Says Georgia’s 5th congressional district, represented by John Lewis, is \"in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested).\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 15, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Charles Schumer stated on January 3, 2017 in an interview on MSNBC: Says Donald Trump campaigned on not cutting Medicare and Social Security, but his nominee for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, \"made his career on cutting Medicare and Medicaid.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 10, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Cory Booker stated on January 8, 2017 in an interview on \'Face the Nation\': \"In 2009, Mitch McConnell was the person that’s saying, \'Hey, we should get all the ethics information in before we do the hearings.\' \" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 8, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Lumos stated on December 19, 2016 in a factsheet: \"An estimated 8 million children worldwide live in orphanages or residential institutions. Shockingly, 80 percent of these children are not orphans.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • January 4, 2017 ![](\\" mugs-mug- independentgroup____________________/41dfed38296fe3f48d11ff286b0da1cc.jpg\\") ![](\\" mugs-mug- independentgroup____________________/df4eaf56ef02f0fe8dcb1410d3a2d2a7.jpg\\") BuzzFeedUSA.com stated on December 20, 2016 in a website: \"Breaking: Crew of Air Force One Refuses to Fly Obama 6000 miles ‘Just to Play Golf’ \" ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Linda Qiu • December 30, 2016 ### Bernie Sanders was the roll call amendment king from 1995 to 2007 * ![](\\" ![](\\" House Majority PAC stated on September 9, 2024 in a television ad: Laurie Buckhout is “trying to get to Congress to pass a national abortion ban, allowing politicians to ban abortions with no exceptions and prosecute women if they get an abortion, treating women right here like criminals.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Paul Specht • October 1, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump Jr. stated on September 9, 2024 in a post: “Less than three months ago, Kamala Harris and her administration blocked 300,000 unvetted Haitian migrants from being deported out of our country.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" X posts stated on September 30, 2024 in an X post: Photo shows President Joe Biden lounging on the beach \"while towns all over America were being wiped out” by Hurricane Helene. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Samantha Putterman • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on September 30, 2024 in in social media posts: “Biden Announces: ‘2.4 billion more to Ukraine’ but ‘no more aid for Hurricane Helene.’” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 24, 2024 in a post: “Olympic boxer Imane Khelif fails gender test, stripped of all titles, lifetime ban and $25 million prize money revoked!” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Grace Abels • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on September 30, 2024 in a press conference in Georgia: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was calling President Joe Biden after Hurricane Helene but \"hasn\'t been able to get him.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 29, 2024 in an Instagram post: “Video shows Kamala (Harris) responding to someone talking through her earrings that she allegedly wore during the Trump vs. Harris debate.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Elissa Slotkin stated on September 30, 2024 in a Meta ad: U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers “believes he should make that decision” about whether to end pregnancies. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Caleb McCullough • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Tim Sheehy stated on September 27, 2024 in an ad: U.S. Sen. Jon Tester “voted to give taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Louis Jacobson • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 26, 2024 in an Instagram post: “Kamala involved in P-Diddy’s rapes and assaults.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • September 30, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. Become a member! In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts. 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Bernie Sanders passed more roll call amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member