Rep. Adam Smith’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from Washington's 9th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Smith’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.
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 Smith’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 influential cosponsors the most often compared to Washington Delegation6 of Smith’s bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress 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. 955: To authorize assistance and sustainment …; H.R. 1012: MediFair Act of 2015; H.R. 1088: Trade Adjustment Assistance Act of …; H.R. 3410: Rural Economic Vitalization Act; H.R. 5454: Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2016; H.R. 5540: Military Infrastructure Consolidation and Efficiency … Compare to all Washington Delegation (90th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to Washington DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 2 of Smith’s 11 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Washington Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (11th percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (12th percentile). |
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Held the most committee positions compared to Washington DelegationSmith held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Smith’s Profile » Compare to all Washington Delegation (90th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); House Democrats (89th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile). |
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Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to Washington DelegationOur 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Smith’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Washington Delegation (10th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); House Democrats (37th percentile); All Representatives (16th percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 2nd most often compared to Washington DelegationGovTrack looked at whether Smith supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Smith 4 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Smith cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 2143: EMPOWER Act; H.R. 6340: Presidential Accountability Act Compare to all Washington Delegation (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); House Democrats (58th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Washington Delegation (tied with 1 other)Smith introduced 11 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Washington Delegation (10th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (28th percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 2nd fewest bills compared to Washington Delegation (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 1088: Trade Adjustment Assistance Act of … Compare to all Washington Delegation (10th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (16th percentile); House Democrats (18th percentile); All Representatives (18th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Washington DelegationSmith’s bills and resolutions had 132 cosponsors in the 114th Congress. 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 Washington Delegation (20th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); House Democrats (32nd percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile). |
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Was 6th most absent in votes compared to All RepresentativesSmith missed 20.2% of votes (267 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Smith’s Profile » Compare to all Washington Delegation (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); All Representatives (99th 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. |
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Laws EnactedSmith introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Washington Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Smith introduced 0 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Washington Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredSmith cosponsored 339 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 Washington Delegation (60th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); All Representatives (70th percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 339 bills that Smith cosponsored, 27% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Washington Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (64th percentile); House Democrats (33rd percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Smith’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Washington Delegation (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (31st 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 the 114th Congress) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
