Who are the absolute deadweight Senators in the chamber as of now?

[sg0508]

What I mean is, what Senators are there and serve absolutely no purpose?  The joke answer is all 100 collaboratively, but if you could name say 10 that serve the American people and maybe their individual states no purpose, who would you say?

There's always deadweight in every Company.

[JulioMadrid]

Roger Wicker
Bill Nelson
Jim Risch
Mike Enzi
Tom Udall
Dan Coats
Jim Webb
Saxby Chambliss
Ben Cardin
Jack Reed

[Governor Scott]

Roger Wicker
Thad Cochran
John Boozman
Mark Pryor
Joe Manchin
Ben Nelson
Jerry Moran
Tim Johnson
Bob Corker
Mark Begich

You only let me pick ten.

[Senator Napoleon]

Lieberman
Ben Nelson
Manchin
Chambliss
Wicker
Burr
Coats
Blunt
Shelby
Akaka

[MilesC56]

Lautenburg
Kohl
Enzi
Boozman
Crapo
Cardin
Roberts
Lieberman
Blunt
Inhofe

[RogueBeaver]

Roger Wicker
Thad Cochran
John Boozman
Mark Pryor
Joe Manchin
Ben Nelson
Jerry Moran
Tim Johnson
Bob Corker
Mark Begich

You only let me pick ten.

[Senator Snowstalker]

Manchin has been at least outspoken; I'd take him off. Otherwise, Scott's list is fine. Replace him with...Inhofe? Also, putting up people elected in 2010 is unfair, so take out Moran and Boozman.

Miles: Yours is okay, but I take issue with Lautenburg. He's not doing much now, but he was a massive asset to my old home state.

[MilesC56]

Manchin has been at least outspoken; I'd take him off. Otherwise, Scott's list is fine. Replace him with...Inhofe? Also, putting up people elected in 2010 is unfair, so take out Moran and Boozman.

Miles: Yours is okay, but I take issue with Lautenburg. He's not doing much now, but he was a massive asset to my old home state.

Eh, ok, I don't know much about Lautenburg anyway.

Boozman definitely deserves to be on the list; he was a backbencher in the House as well. If Lincoln were still in the Senate, she'd be doing much more than he is now.

[Reginald]

What does Mikulski do? I honestly don't know much about her, but I saw this:

Mikulski is the longest serving present Senator who has never been the chairperson of a full standing committee, and Mikulski is the longest serving/highest ranking Democrat who is not a present chairperson of a full standing committee of the U.S. Senate.

...and I know chairing committees isn't the sole factor of weighing a Senator's "purpose;" I'm simply just curious.

[MilesC56]

What does Mikulski do? I honestly don't know much about her, but I saw this:

Mikulski is the longest serving present Senator who has never been the chairperson of a full standing committee, and Mikulski is the longest serving/highest ranking Democrat who is not a present chairperson of a full standing committee of the U.S. Senate.

...and I know chairing committees isn't the sole factor of weighing a Senator's "purpose;" I'm simply just curious.

She acts a mentor to all the women Senators; she's the most senior woman,

[Governor Scott]

I haven't seen Manchin do much other than go on a few news shows and campaign for Earl Tomblin.  But yeah, people like Mike Enzi or Jim Risch would probably be better for that list.

[Joe Republic]

I keep forgetting about Jeff Bingaman.  Like, everything to do with him, including what he looks like (I keep picturing Tom Carper).  I can't think of anything notable he has accomplished in his nearly thirty years in the Senate.

[Landslide Lyndon]

The Georgia couple is probably the most useless in the current senate. Even their home papers admitted that last year.

Akaka, Burr, Stabenow and Roberts don't have much to show for all their years in the chamber.

[Meeker]

I think this is a flawed question. All these guys do stuff that never makes it on to national news - or even local news - but it still makes an impact. For instance, Jeff Bingaman (mentioned upthread) is the Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He's been a major player in legislation in that field for more than two decades, but it's not a widely reported on subject area in the media so I doubt most people have heard of anything he's done.

I don't think "ability to think of something they've done off the top of my head" is really a fair metric of quality of Senator. I think that you could somehow make a list of "10 worst Senators" or something, but frankly I don't really think anyone on this forum has enough information to actually make that judgement call.

[Meeker]

What does Mikulski do? I honestly don't know much about her, but I saw this:

Mikulski is the longest serving present Senator who has never been the chairperson of a full standing committee, and Mikulski is the longest serving/highest ranking Democrat who is not a present chairperson of a full standing committee of the U.S. Senate.

...and I know chairing committees isn't the sole factor of weighing a Senator's "purpose;" I'm simply just curious.

Also, to be fair to Mikulski, her only two committees are Appropriations (nearly impossible for any Senator to get under the seniority system) and the H.E.L.P. committee, which Kennedy was Chairman of for so many years (though Mikulski is in line for the Chair now if/when Harkin retires).

[MilesC56]

What does Mikulski do? I honestly don't know much about her, but I saw this:

Mikulski is the longest serving present Senator who has never been the chairperson of a full standing committee, and Mikulski is the longest serving/highest ranking Democrat who is not a present chairperson of a full standing committee of the U.S. Senate.

...and I know chairing committees isn't the sole factor of weighing a Senator's "purpose;" I'm simply just curious.

Also, to be fair to Mikulski, her only two committees are Appropriations (nearly impossible for any Senator to get under the seniority system) and the H.E.L.P. committee, which Kennedy was Chairman of for so many years (though Mikulski is in line for the Chair now if/when Harkin retires).

Last week, Harkin said he'd probably retire....in 2020.

[Senator Kalwejt]

What does Mikulski do? I honestly don't know much about her, but I saw this:

Mikulski is the longest serving present Senator who has never been the chairperson of a full standing committee, and Mikulski is the longest serving/highest ranking Democrat who is not a present chairperson of a full standing committee of the U.S. Senate.

...and I know chairing committees isn't the sole factor of weighing a Senator's "purpose;" I'm simply just curious.

She acts a mentor to all the women Senators; she's the most senior woman,

Also, you don't need to chair a committee to have a considerable influence.

I'll use House example, which operates under similar rules for committees/seniority. John Murtha never chaired House committee, but had a lot of influence as one of Appropriations subcommittees chairs. Pete Stark, I believe, only chaired now-obsolete D.C. Committee, but is a senior member of Ways and Means, which is a huge thing.

But getting back to Mikulski and the Senate, she used to serve as a Democratic Conference Secretary 1995–2005, which is third-highest leadership post after Leader and Whip.

[Harry]

Roger Wicker
Thad Cochran
John Boozman
Mark Pryor
Joe Manchin
Ben Nelson
Jerry Moran
Tim Johnson
Bob Corker
Mark Begich

You only let me pick ten.

While Wicker is the most obvious answer, Cochran's presence on your list is a huge wtf...