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Rep. Abby Finkenauer’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from Iowa's 1st District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2021

These year-end statistics cover Finkenauer’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare her to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Finkenauer’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.

Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.

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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 8th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 2 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 10 of Finkenauer’s 12 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Finkenauer caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all House Freshmen (89th percentile); House Democrats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Ranked 17th most politically right compared to House Democrats

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Finkenauer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Freshmen (52nd percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile).

 

Was 28th most present in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 18 others)

Finkenauer missed 0.1% of votes (1 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Finkenauer’s Profile »

Compare to all House Freshmen (8th percentile); All Representatives (6th percentile).

The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics.
 

Cosponsored the 43rd fewest bills compared to House Democrats

Finkenauer cosponsored 235 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all House Freshmen (50th percentile); House Democrats (18th percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 47th most often compared to House Democrats

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 235 bills that Finkenauer cosponsored, 13% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all House Freshmen (37th percentile); House Democrats (80th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Ranked the 56th bottom/follower compared to House Democrats

Our unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Finkenauer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Freshmen (67th percentile); House Democrats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Got the 58th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House Democrats

Finkenauer’s bills and resolutions had 117 cosponsors in 2019. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills »

Compare to all House Freshmen (66th percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 96th least often compared to All Representatives (tied with 80 others)

1 of Finkenauer’s bills and resolutions in 2019 had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

Those bills were: H.R. 246: Stimulating Innovation through Procurement Act …

Compare to all House Freshmen (24th percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Finkenauer introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 2089: Biodiesel Tax Credit Extension Act …

Compare to all House Freshmen (75th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); All Representatives (63rd percentile).

The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill.
 

Bills Introduced

Finkenauer introduced 12 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all House Freshmen (59th percentile); House Democrats (27th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Finkenauer introduced 2 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 246: Stimulating Innovation through Procurement Act …; H.R. 2089: Biodiesel Tax Credit Extension Act …

Compare to all House Freshmen (52nd percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Finkenauer’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.R. 4024: Broadband Transparency and Accountability Act …

Compare to all House Freshmen (23rd percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Committee Positions

Finkenauer held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Finkenauer’s Profile »

Compare to all House Freshmen (66th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

Additional Notes

Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.

Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).

Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.

Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.