Limbaugh falsely asserted that "you won't find a Senate bill with [Obama's] name on it"

Summary: Rush Limbaugh falsely asserted that if "you look at" the legislative record of Sen. Barack Obama, "you won't find a Senate bill with his name on it." In fact, Obama was the primary sponsor of a bill in the 109th Congress to "promote relief, security, and democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo," signed into law by President Bush in December 2006, was a key co-sponsor of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, and has so far introduced 55 bills in the current session of Congress.

On the January 7 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh falsely asserted that if "you look at" the legislative record of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), "you won't find a Senate bill with his name on it." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, Obama was the primary sponsor of a bill in the 109th Congress (S.2125) to "promote relief, security, and democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo," which was signed into law by President Bush on December 22, 2006.

In addition, Obama was a key co-sponsor of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S.2590), also of the 109th Congress. In a statement while signing the bill into law on September 26, 2006, Bush recognized Obama as a sponsor of the legislation, saying: "I want to thank the bill sponsors, Tom Coburn from Oklahoma, Tom Carper from Delaware, and Barack Obama from Illinois." Moreover, in a press release upon Senate passage of the bill, the bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), referred to the legislation as the "Coburn-Obama Bill." Indeed, media reports have even referred to the bill as the "Coburn-Obama legislation."

In the 110th Congress, Obama has so far introduced 55 bills for which he is the primary sponsor. Examples of these bills include:

• The Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act of 2007 (S.117), "to improve benefits and services for members of the Armed Forces, veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, and other veterans, to require reports on the effects of the Global War on Terrorism."

• The American Fuels Act of 2007 (S.133), "to promote the national security and stability of the economy of the United States by reducing the dependence of the United States on oil through the use of alternative fuels and new technology."

• The Voter Advocate and Democracy Index Act of 2007 (S.737), "to measure, compare, and improve the quality of voter access to polls and voter services in the administration of Federal elections in the States."

• The STOP FRAUD Act (S.1222), "to stop mortgage transactions which operate to promote fraud, risk, abuse, and under-development."

• The Nuclear Weapons Threat Reduction Act of 2007 (S.1977), "to provide for sustained United States leadership in a cooperative global effort to prevent nuclear terrorism, reduce global nuclear arsenals, stop the spread of nuclear weapons and related material and technology, and support the responsible and peaceful use of nuclear technology."

From the January 7 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Mrs. Clinton has decided -- decided that she's gonna start defining the terms of her own campaign. She's going to get rid of all these consultants and all these outside advisers. She's just going to take it over herself. Now, anybody who believes that that hasn't been the case all along is eating something strange. The idea that Mrs. Clinton is a puppet and is listening to a bunch of campaign strategerists [sic] is absurd. That is not her personality whatsoever. She's been running this show from day one. That's one of the problems.

And Mr. Clinton has been right in there -- that's one of the problems. It's not 1992, and it's not 1996 any longer, and there isn't this -- I've been trying to tell people this -- there is not this massive group, population of Americans salivating with bated breath [panting noise], panting away, hoping for the Clintons to get back in the White House. They have thought there was, or is, but there isn't. And the Obama rise sort of indicates this.

The fact that she's losing to somebody with no experience, the fact that she's losing -- do you know this guy -- you look at his record in the Senate, you won't find a Senate bill with his name on it. You won't find a Senate bill with the Breck Girl's [John Edwards] name on it -- other than a couple of post offices being named for people in North Carolina. First-term senators don't get much done, certainly not under their own names. And she's losing to somebody with veritably no experience whatsoever.

—A.C.S.