Sen. Debbie Stabenow
Former Senator for Michigan
pronounced DEH-bee // STA-buh-now
Stabenow was a senator from Michigan and was a Democrat. She served from 2001 to 2024.
She was also Senate Democratic Policy & Communications Committee Chair, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.
She was previously the representative for Michigan’s 8th congressional district as a Democrat from 1997 to 2000.
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2024 Report Card for Stabenow.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Stabenow is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2024 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills legislators sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Dec 21, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Stabenow was the primary sponsor of 21 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 1278 (118th): A bill to designate the Federal building located at 985 Michigan Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, as the “Rosa Parks Federal Building”, and for other purposes.
- S. 1942 (117th): National Heritage Area Act
- S. 452 (117th): Willie O’Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act
- S. 866 (117th): Repairing Existing Public Land by Adding Necessary Trees Act
- S. 2295 (116th): GLRI Act of 2019
- S. 1268 (116th): PACT Act
- S. 950 (116th): PFAS Detection Act of 2019
Does 21 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Stabenow sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (42%) Agriculture and Food (16%) Taxation (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (8%) Social Welfare (7%) Environmental Protection (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Stabenow recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 5335 (118th): Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of 2024
- S.Res. 775 (118th): A resolution expressing support for the designation of July 15, 2024, as …
- S. 4693 (118th): Revitalizing Downtowns and Main Streets Act
- S. 4192 (118th): We Can’t Wait Act of 2024
- S.Res. 639 (118th): A resolution expressing support for the designation of the month of April …
- S.Res. 592 (118th): A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Social Work Month and …
- S. 3948 (118th): Protecting Against Foreign Adversary Investments Act of 2024
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1997 to Dec 2024, Stabenow missed 118 of 7,898 roll call votes, which is 1.5%. This is better than the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2024. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absences, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills