This is the last in a series of posts that looks at data from NTUF's recently released BillTally report for the 1st Session of the 112th Congress.
Yesterday, we looked at net spending agenda by Congressional delegation and how House delegations compare with one another. Today, we look at Senate delegations. While the average delegation in the House had a net spending agenda of $142.2 billion, the average Senate delegation was a net saver with a net agenda of -$89.6 billion. As in the House, the difference in party control (whether there are more Democrats or Republicans in the delegation) does appear to have an impact on the delegation's net spending agenda. States that have two Democratic Senators have an average net agenda of $49.6 billion, while states with two Republicans have a net savings agenda of -$245.3 billion. Delegations with one from each party (split delegations) also had a net savings agenda, -$99.7 billion.
The table also highlights the delegations with the largest spending and savings agendas. If you don't see your delegation, you can download delegation data here (in Excel).
If you're not familiar with BillTally, here's a little background: Since 1991, NTUF has computed the legislative spending agendas of Members of Congress by analyzing the costs – and savings – of the bills that they sponsor and cosponsor as part of our BillTally research project. BillTally is the only comprehensive look at the potential cost to taxpayers of what Members want to spend on a Member-by-Member basis.
If you're curious about what proposals your Members of Congress have made, you can search detailed reports for each Member of Congress here.
Average Net Spending Agendas for Senate Delegations | |||||
| Delegation | Average Increases | Average Decreases | Average Net | # of Increase Bills | # of Decrease Bills |
| Overall Average | $26,694 | ($116,338) | ($89,644) | 22 | 9 |
| Democrat-controlled Average | $55,820 | ($6,199) | $49,621 | 36 | 4 |
| Republican-controlled Average | $2,427 | ($247,766) | ($245,339) | 9 | 14 |
| Split Control | $17,268 | ($116,990) | ($99,722) | 20 | 10 |
| Largest Net Spending Agenda | |||||
| VERMONT | $542,693 | ($10,757) | $531,936 | 48 | 5 |
| Smallest Net Spending Agenda | |||||
| KENTUCKY | $1 | ($378,326) | ($378,325) | 1 | 13 |
| Largest Democrat-controlled Net | |||||
| VERMONT | $542,693 | ($10,757) | $531,936 | 48 | 5 |
| Smallest Democrat-controlled Net | |||||
| MICHIGAN | $16,713 | ($28,863) | ($12,150) | 25 | 5 |
| Largest Republican-controlled Net | |||||
| MAINE | $11,200 | ($46,482) | ($35,283) | 35 | 8 |
| Smallest Republican-controlled Net | |||||
| KENTUCKY | $1 | ($378,326) | ($378,325) | 1 | 13 |
| Largest Split-controlled Net | |||||
| ALASKA | $80,190 | ($25,500) | $54,690 | 39 | 7 |
| Smallest Split-controlled Net | |||||
| WISCONSIN | $1,665 | ($149,645) | ($147,980) | 8 | 9 |
Source: NTUF BillTally , 112th Congress | |||||