Fact check: Fact-checking John Bel Edwards on David Vitter's legislative record
November 13, 2015
By Charles Aull
In the race to succeed outgoing governor—and current presidential candidate—Bobby Jindal (R), Louisiana's gubernatorial contest between State Rep. John Bel Edwards (D) and U.S. Senator David Vitter (R) has taken a personal turn, with both candidates taking shots at each other's legislative careers.
Between now and election day in Louisiana—November 21—Verbatim will examine statements from both candidates on this issue and other topics as well.
In this article, we focus on a recent claim from Edwards that Vitter has only passed five bills during his 16-year-long tenure in Congress. That number is accurate, but it doesn't tell the whole story.
Background
David Vitter, a second-term Republican Senator and former member of the House of Representatives, and John Bel Edwards, a third-term Democratic State Representative, cleared a field of nine total candidates in Louisiana's hotly-contested primary election on October 24, 2015. They will face each other in a general election on November 21.
| Governor of Louisiana, Blanket Primary, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  John Bel Edwards |
39.9% | 444,061 | |
| Republican | David Vitter |
23% | 256,105 | |
| Republican | Scott Angelle | 19.3% | 214,907 | |
| Republican | Jay Dardenne | 15% | 166,553 | |
| Democratic | Cary Deaton | 1.1% | 11,750 | |
| Democratic | S L Simpson | 0.7% | 7,411 | |
| Independent | Beryl Billiot | 0.5% | 5,690 | |
| Independent | Jeremy "JW" Odom | 0.4% | 4,755 | |
| Independent | Eric Paul Orgeron | 0.2% | 2,244 | |
| Total Votes | 1,113,476 | |||
| Election Results Louisiana Secretary of State. | ||||
Vitter and Edwards met on November 10 for their second debate since the primary. The debate opened with a segment devoted to the topic of "governing style," which both candidates used to discuss not only their own philosophy of government but also the legislative career of their opponent. At one point in the discussion, Edwards questioned Vitter about his productivity in Congress, saying:
| “ | David, in the last 16 years you have only passed five of 565 bills that you've authored. You've been called the most corrupt member of congress three times; you've been named the least effective member of Congress in either party and you don't show up for work. ... How is that you don't represent a third Bobby Jindal term?[1] | ” |
Vitter responded by stating:
| “ | First of all, as you know, you're completely misrepresenting my record. You know, you talk about bills you introduce that pass. You have to look at things I fought for; worked with others on, on a bipartisan basis; was a prime author on [a bill] that did pass. And that record of bipartisan accomplishment, I'll put next to anybody's, certainly yours.[1] | ” |
Our focus here is on Edwards' comment about Vitter's legislative achievements in Congress. Is it true that only five of his bills have become law throughout his 16-year-long career in the House and Senate?
Vitter's legislative record
To answer that question, we turned to THOMAS, the Library of Congress' legislative database, and GovTrack.com, a nonpartisan website that houses legislators' records in a searchable database and tracks legislation as it moves through Congress.
In keeping with the specificity of Edwards' claim, we restricted our search to bills sponsored by Vitter that have been passed into law. We disregarded amendments, resolutions, bills that he cosponsored and companion bills—all of which generally make up the bulk of a lawmaker's legislative record.
Vitter's profiles on Thomas and GovTrack show that in his 16 years in Congress a total of five of his bills have become law. This means that five of his bills made it out of committee, were passed in identical versions in both chambers of Congress and were signed by the President.
Vitter's legislation includes a disaster relief law from 2005; a 2008 law renaming a post office in Alexandria, Louisiana; a reextension of the national flood insurance program in 2010; a law from 2013 amending the Animal Welfare Act; and The Steve Gleason Act of 2015, a law providing Medicare beneficiary access for speech-generating devices.
Edwards, then, was right about Vitter's five bills.
But we wondered if that number was unique. Is passing five bills exceptionally low? Is it on average? Is it above average?
The answers to these questions depend on what your baseline is.
For example, if we compared Vitter's five bills that have become laws to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch's 112 bills, then Vitter's record looks exceptionally low. But, if we compare it to Iowa Senator Joni Ernst's zero bills, it seems above average.
Hatch, however, has been in Congress for almost four decades, while Ernst has been there for about 11 months. It makes little sense to compare Vitter's record to either of theirs.
Instead, we compared Vitter to members of Congress who have served a length of time comparable to his 16 years. In order to cast a wide net, we looked for members of Congress—in both the House and Senate—who have served a between 14 to 18 years. In total, we found 62. We then used THOMAS and GovTrack to find out how many bills each of these individuals have had become law and averaged them. We learned that members of Congress who have served between 14 to 18 years have had, on average, 4.72 bills become law. From this perspective, Vitter's legislative record is not particularly unique. Having five bills become law in 16 years is slightly above the norm.
Conclusion
In a recent gubernatorial debate in Louisiana, John Bel Edwards stated that his opponent, David Vitter, has managed to pass only five bills into law throughout his 16-year-long career in Congress. We found that statement to be factually correct, but noted that there is nothing particularly unusual about passing five bills into law in 16 years. For members of Congress who have served between 14 to 18 years, the average number of their bills that have become law is 4.72. Vitter's five is just above that.
Launched in October 2015 and active through October 2018, Fact Check by Ballotpedia examined claims made by elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. We evaluated claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. As of 2025, Ballotpedia staff periodically review these articles to revaluate and reaffirm our conclusions. Please email us with questions, comments, or concerns about these articles. To learn more about fact-checking, click here.
Sources
C-SPAN, "Louisiana Gubernatorial Debate," November 10, 2015
THOMAS, "About," accessed November 11, 2015
GovTrack.com, "About," accessed November 11, 2015
GovTrack.com, "David Vitter," accessed November 11, 2015
Ballotpedia.org, "List of current members of the U.S. Congress," accessed November 11, 2015
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