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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Is there a way to measure Joe Biden's claimed record of bipartisan legislative success?

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

By Jacqueline Agustin

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YES

The Lugar Center, a nonprofit think tank founded by a Republican senator from Indiana, calculates bipartisanship scores for legislators during their time spent in elected office. Joe Biden ranks 47 out of 250 current and former senators scored for their bipartisan work (Maine's Susan Collins ranks highest among currently-serving senators, at no. 2). The index is based on a senator's track record of attracting opposition party co-sponsorship of bills they sponsor, and also how often they themselves co-sponsor bills originated by the opposing party.

Biden and his supporters often discuss his role under President Obama as the administration's bipartisan dealmaker, most notably in winning necessary Republican votes to pass an economic stimulus bill during the 2008 recession.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Lugar Center: Senate lifetime scores on bipartisan index

Georgetown University: McCourt School and Lugar Center release bipartisan index rankings

Lugar Center: More about the bipartisan index

ProPublica: Bills sponsored by Joe Biden

Politico: Joe Biden actually is a dealmaker

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.