So What Have They Done?

So an important meme out there is that Hillary is oh so accomplished and gets results, while Obama is oh so green and is nothing but words.

I have to admit, that for the last couple of months, I've had the feeling that both memes were wrong but never looked into it, so I didn't have any proof for my words. Well, finally, I got off my lazy bottom and did do some research...

For those of you who are lazy like me the long and short of what I found is this:

Barack Obama actually has accomplished some things, and crossed the aisle to do so.

Hillary Clinton also has a record of accomplishment, but not that much greater than Obama's.

So here's what I found.

We'll begin by looking at their respective records while in the U.S. Senate. By the way I decided to list the bills that they sponsored by themselves. I listed rather than described them...that way you, our faithful readers (both of you) don't have to go anywhere else...however, I've cited my sources at the end. Finally, I didn't include bills that did more 'pedestrian' things such as naming Post Offices and giving out other kinds of recognition.

Bills sponsored by Hillary Clinton alone that actually became law:

1.) S.1425 : A bill to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize the New York City Watershed Protection Program.
Sponsor: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] (introduced 7/17/2003)
Note: For further action, see H.R.2771, which became Public Law 108-328 on 10/16/2004.

2.) S.1622 : A bill to extend the period of availability of unemployment assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in the case of victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Sponsor: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] (introduced 11/1/2001) 
Note: For further action, see H.R. 3986, which became Public Law 107-154 on 3/25/2002.

3.) S.2496 : A bill to provide for the establishment of investigative teams to assess building performance and emergency response and evacuation procedures in the wake of any building failure that has resulted in substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential of substantial loss of life, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] (introduced 5/9/2002) Note: For further action, see H.R. 4687, which became Public Law 107-231 on 10/1/2002.

Bills sponsored by Obama that actually became law:

S.2125 : A bill to promote relief, security, and democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Sponsor: Sen Obama, Barack [IL] (introduced 12/16/2005) Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 109-456

It is hard to get a bill through the senate sponsored only by a singular senator. As a result it probably is more revealing to look at bills that were co-sponsored. Co-sponsoring a bill is a bit confusing. Often, a senator will sign on as a co-sponsor without having done any work. As a result, I've highlighted co-sponsored bills here, rather than listing like above.

Hillary has co-sponsored numerous bills but, as is common practice, has often not spoke on them or done much work on them. The bills on which she has taken an active role include a bill to achieve emission reductions and cost savings through accelerated use of cost-effective lighting technologies in public buildings, and for other purposes, and a number of revisions to laws, including issues related to environmental concerns, consumer protections. She is also consistently involved in bills related to improving things for veterans. I will say that there is a nice range of issues to which she has at least attached her name.

Obama, also co-sponsored numerous bills that were sponsored by numerous senators. However, Obama, who campaigned in 2004 on the issues of ethics reform and nuclear non-proliferation work, actually crossed the aisle for work related to both. His biggest accomplishment came last year when he joined with Richard Lugar (R-Ind) to update the Nunn-Lugar Framework for securing loose nukes. It also extended the scope of the act to include conventional weapons such as RPG's.

As for ethics reform he was appointed by Senator Reid as the senate's point person on the ethics reform and co-sponsored a number of the bills that made up the package that passed in 2006, called the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 .

I don't think either of these is insignificant. As for his promise to get past the political divisions of the past 30 years, he has shown an ability to work with members of the Republican party while in the U.S. Senate. He also demonstrated this ability while in the Illinois Senate. The most famous example is his work on a bill that made videotaping mandatory for police interrogations in Illinois. When he proposed this bill, he had little support on his side of the aisle. In addition, the police unions opposed it as did the Illinois governor. Through real legislating, working with other members in the Illinois senate, working with the police unions and eventually the Illinois governor, he was able to get the bill signed into law.

My conclusion is that both have experience. Reading through Hillary's record I realize she is not quite as calculating as is sometimes portrayed, she has worked hard on issues that she cares about. Reading through Obama's record also confirmed that he works hard on issues he cares about and confirmed (at least to me) his assertion that he has the abilities to change (not end but make some change) the partisan atmosphere in Washington politics. Who knows though, I can only think of one way to find out.

Finally, one other thing, while searching for info about, I found that Obama has introduced a bill that is on the Senate Calendar for this year (and Hillary has co-sponsored it.) So there you go Thomas, he's trying...technically it was introduced in late 2007 but I think it counts for something.

Sources:
Thomas, the LOC resource for all things legislatively related.

I also got a lot of information from the blog Obsidian Wings, which is a very interesting read.