Aug. 8, 2026Methodology v2.5 · State metrics: 12 source systems, data through 2023–2025 by metric
Political Grades
government — just the stats

CongressRhode Island

Sheldon Whitehouse

U.S. Senator, Rhode Island · Democratic · in office since Jan. 4, 2007

Sheldon Whitehouse
U.S. Senator · Rhode Island · Democratic · in the Senate since Jan. 2007
Overall grade · among senators
−0.04σ
No. 53 of 91 · 1 other at the same σ · 65% of the grade measured
How this grade is built
30%Bills they move (LES, 118th Congress)−0.23
25%Rhode Island: trend + condition (30% condition, 19.6y served)+0.25
10%Fiscal votes (CBO-scored laws)−0.06
25%Alignment (promises vs. votes)reserved
10%Attendance (missed votes)reserved
Rhode Island outcomes during their Senate service · scored 2007–2025
CategoryLatestScore vs. peers
Education scale score269.824−0.40σ
Air quality AQI3524+0.68σ
Water quality % of systems with a violation9.825−0.95σ
Unemployment %4.525+0.20σ
Health coverage % of adults 18-64 uninsured7.724+0.84σ
Tax burden % of personal income6.724−0.32σ
Energy cost cents/kWh28.624−1.88σ
Cost of living index, US=100102.324−0.69σ
Homicide age-adjusted deaths per 100,000224+1.41σ
Teen births per 1,000 females 15-197.524+1.13σ
Wellbeing mean poor-mental-health days of 304.824+0.62σ
Obesity % of adults31.124+0.56σ
Early literacy % of 4th-graders below basic39.324+0.03σ
Gun deaths age-adjusted deaths per 100,0004.624+1.70σ
Food-aid access index (higher = easier access)123+1.10σ
Jobless-benefit access % of unemployed receiving UI40.224+1.81σ

Scoring windows run 20072025 and differ by metric — none starts before 2007, the year Whitehouse entered the Senate. “Latest” is a different year by metric (20232025); every row states its own. Each row’s window, source and last-checked date are behind its ? button.

Their own recordValue
Legislative effectiveness LES · chamber avg = 1.0 · 118th Congress
0.54
Missed votes lifetime, all service (GovTrack)2.2%
Ideology 0 = left · 1 = right · 119th Congress sponsorship analysis (GovTrack)0.19
Promises keptIn human review

A senator’s constituency is the whole state, so they are scored on the same verified state outcomes as the governor — ranked against other senators — alongside their own legislative record. Influence is shared with 99 colleagues and the governor; the score shows relative movement, not sole credit. Methodology v2.5

The Rundown

No. 53 of 91 senators — on the 65% of the grade we can actually measure.

Bills that move. A Legislative Effectiveness Score of 0.54 — the scale is set so each chamber averages 1.00, and it counts only the bills a member sponsors themselves and how far each one gets. The grade scores that against members of the same chamber on the same side of the majority, so it reflects lawmaking rather than who holds the gavel: the same score sits differently in the majority than out of it. Measured over the 118th Congress, now complete. Whitehouse chaired the Senate Budget Committee in the 118th Congress — leaders and committee chairs move other members' bills rather than sponsor their own, and this site does not yet measure that.

Fiscal votes. The deficit footprint of the laws Whitehouse voted for, per CBO's estimates, ranked against other senators with enough scored votes — a lower footprint ranks higher. Six scored laws today, dollar-dominated by the largest, so this measures the pandemic-era fiscal record more than a career; coverage broadens as laws are added. Every vote and its CBO figure is itemized in the debt section below.

Rhode Island outcomes. Rhode Island's own record contributes here, at 100% of full weight — Whitehouse is 19.6 years into Senate service, and a state is shared with 99 colleagues and a governor. The longer the tenure, the more of the state's record is attributed.

Not counted — 35% of the rubric. promise-keeping (25%): promise/position alignment publishes only after two agreeing human reviews · attendance (10%): needs per-Congress missed votes; our figure is lifetime

So this is a ranking of 3 things, not a verdict on a career. Senators are also scored on their state's outcomes, ranked only against other senators. Everything reserved above publishes the moment it can be measured fairly, and never before.

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The national debt on their watch

context — not this member’s grade

When Whitehouse first took office in 2007, the federal debt stood at $8.51 trillion (end of fiscal 2006; Treasury). As of 2026-08-06 it is $39.89 trillion (Treasury, daily). That rise spans presidents, majorities and economies — it belongs to no single member, which is why it is context here and part of no grade. What is Whitehouse’s own: their recorded votes when the major fiscal bills came through, beside what the Congressional Budget Office estimated each law would do to deficits.

$10T$20T$30T$40T200620162026took office · $8.51 trillion$39.89 trillion
Total public debt outstanding, fiscal 2006–present, in nominal dollars — no adjustment for inflation or the size of the economy, so early decades understate their era’s burden. Y-axis starts at zero. Source: Treasury.
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Debt figures as of the data refresh on 2026-08-08. These same votes feed the grade’s fiscal-conduct block (10%, methodology v2.5) — the debt itself feeds nothing: it belongs to no single member, and only their own votes are scored. The change is preregistered and dated in the changelog.

The promise ledger

The evidence base for the promise-keeping block of the grade — the 25% shown as reserved on the card above. What Whitehouse said they would do, in their own words, beside what they did. Said-columns hold verbatim quotes only, from dated, linkable sources, and publish only after two agreeing human reviews — the methodology’s bar, and the reason a column may be empty: the bar does not move to fill it.

In their speeches

No promise from a speech has been published for Whitehouse. One appears here only as a verbatim quote from a dated transcript, and only after two agreeing human reviews — the column stays empty until something clears that bar. The raw material is public meanwhile: search C-SPAN’s video archive for Whitehouse

In their advertising

None published yet — same bar as speeches. The public archives are searchable now: the Meta Ad Library and Google’s ad-transparency archive, searched by name — a search, so same-named others may appear in the results.

Bills they introduced

27 bills and resolutions sponsored in the 119th Congress — the newest:

  • S. 5269A bill to provide for the establishment of hybrid primary care payments under the Medicare…
    Latest action (2026-08-05): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
  • S. 5173Fairness in Foreign Filing Act
    Latest action (2026-07-30): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
  • S. 5075Get Foreign Money Out of U.S. Elections Act
    Latest action (2026-07-22): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
  • S. 5076Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act of 2026
    Latest action (2026-07-22): Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  • S. 5011Curtailing Executive Overcompensation (CEO) Act
    Latest action (2026-07-16): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

From the Congress.gov API, as of 2026-08-08. Latest actions are quoted from the record — most introduced bills die in committee, and that is part of the record too.

How they voted
  • H.R. 1319voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
  • H.R. 3684voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
  • H.R. 4346voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
  • H.R. 5376voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
  • S. 3373voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
  • H.R. 2670voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
  • H.R. 3746voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
  • H.R. 4366voted Yea
    what it contains, dollar by dollar →
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How Whitehouse voted

8 tracked bills

These are the major bills this site tracks line by line — not a full voting record. A member casts hundreds of votes a Congress; these 8 are the ones whose spending has been extracted and cited from the enacted text.

BillVotedTracked spendingRoll call
H.R. 4366
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024
For$655.0BMarch 8, 2024
H.R. 2670
NDAA FY2024
For$676MDec. 13, 2023
H.R. 3746
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
For$66.7BJune 1, 2023
H.R. 5376
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
For$183.9BAug. 7, 2022
S. 3373
Honoring our PACT Act of 2022
For$6.9BAug. 2, 2022
H.R. 4346
CHIPS and Science Act of 2022
For$54.2BJuly 27, 2022
H.R. 3684
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)
For$279.9BAug. 10, 2021
H.R. 1319
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA)
For$912.2BMarch 6, 2021

Every date links to the official roll call for Whitehouse’s own chamber. “Did not vote” is not “absent” — the record shows no vote was cast and gives no reason, which is often illness, travel or a paired vote. Nothing on this table is counted toward or against Whitehouse’s grade.

What Whitehouse voted to fund

These pies aggregate the largest verified spending items — appropriations and mandatory outlays — in the bills Whitehouse cast a recorded vote on, sliced by category, every dollar quoted from the bill text. Authorizations, guarantee ceilings and pay-fors are excluded, exactly as on the bill pages. This shows what the bills contained, by Whitehouse’s own votes — not a claim that Whitehouse wrote the spending or that it did or didn’t work. Every dollar in these pies is quoted from the bill text and cited, item by item, on the bill’s own page.

Voted to fund
8 bills · voted Yea
$2.16Ttracked
  • community & regional development$412.7B · 19%
  • veterans$372.6B · 17%
  • income security$301.3B · 14%
  • transportation$202.9B · 9%
  • education$162.6B · 8%
  • energy$128.0B · 6%
  • commerce & housing credit$127.8B · 6%
  • other$127.3B · 6%
  • health$104.9B · 5%
  • broadband$83.1B · 4%
  • water$40.2B · 2%
  • science$40.0B · 2%
  • defense$31.2B · 1%
  • agriculture$22.3B · 1%
  • environment$2.6B · 0.1%

Quoted in full on the bill pages: H.R. 1319 · H.R. 3684 · H.R. 4346 · H.R. 5376 · S. 3373 · H.R. 2670 · H.R. 3746 · H.R. 4366.

Voted against
0 bills · voted Nay

No in-scope bills voted against.

Largest items

The remaining 168 items are quoted in full on the bill pages.

Federal spending during Whitehouse’s current term

Total U.S. federal outlays for each fiscal year of Whitehouse’s current term. This is the whole federal budget — mostly Social Security, Medicare, defense, interest on the debt, and prior commitments — not money Whitehouse personally directed. A president proposes and Congress appropriates; no single official controls it.

Nominal dollars — not adjusted for inflation. Bar lengths compare dollars of different years, so a longer bar can be higher prices rather than more spending. Do not read these bars as a real trend.

FY25
$7.01T74% in term−$1.77T deficit

Source: OMB Historical Tables, Table 1.1 (Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits: 1789-present) · figures · compiled Aug. 8, 2026. Fiscal years run Oct–Sep, so they do not line up with the start of a term — marked above with the share that fell inside this term.

Closed fiscal years published for this term so far: FY2025 only. FY2026 closes Sept. 30, 2026 and OMB has not published it. A short chart here means the term is young and the series stops at the last closed year — not that spending stopped.

How Whitehouse is graded

A senator’s constituency is the whole state, so Whitehouse is graded on the same verified state outcomes as the governor — measured as the change on their watch versus the other 49 states, capped because influence is shared with 99 colleagues, the governor and a world economy — blended with the one thing we can measure of what they personally control: how far the legislation they sponsor actually moves. Voting alignment and attendance are defined in the rubric but reserved, not counted, so no vote of theirs is in this grade today. Every part decomposes on the card above, and the “measured” figure says how much of the grade is real versus still reserved.

Legislative Effectiveness Scores come from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, which benchmarks each chamber’s average to 1.0. Voting statistics come from GovTrack. The Honesty ledger — promises matched against this member’s votes — publishes only with an evidence trail and two agreeing human reviews.