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Rep. Alan Grayson’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Florida's 9th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2017

These year-end statistics cover Grayson’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.

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 Grayson’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 lowest % of bills compared to Florida Delegation

Grayson tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 4% of Grayson’s 54 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (2nd percentile); Safe House Seats (1st percentile); All Representatives (1st percentile).

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

Introduced the 2nd most bills compared to All Representatives

Grayson introduced 54 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (96th percentile); House Democrats (99th percentile); Safe House Seats (99th percentile); All Representatives (100th percentile).

 

Ranked 4th most politically left compared to Florida Delegation

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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Grayson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (11th percentile); House Democrats (29th percentile); Safe House Seats (14th percentile); All Representatives (13th percentile).

 

Was 102nd most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)

Grayson missed 3.8% of votes (27 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Grayson’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (63rd percentile); Safe House Seats (74th percentile); All Representatives (76th 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.
 

Laws Enacted

Grayson introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Grayson introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 189: Servicemember Foreclosure Protections Extension Act …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (56th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of Grayson’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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.Res. 279: Urging respect for freedom of …; H.R. 189: Servicemember Foreclosure Protections Extension Act …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (48th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Grayson’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. 1243: Fiscal Sanity Act for the …; H.R. 1245: Fiscal Sanity Act for the …; H.R. 4012: SAVE Benefits Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (67th percentile); House Democrats (71st percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Grayson 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 Grayson’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (44th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Grayson cosponsored 218 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 Florida Delegation (67th percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); Safe House Seats (69th percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 218 bills that Grayson cosponsored, 28% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (74th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).

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

Cosponsors

Grayson’s bills and resolutions had 215 cosponsors in 2015. 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 Florida Delegation (59th percentile); House Democrats (64th percentile); Safe House Seats (65th percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile).

 

Leadership Score

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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Grayson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (33rd percentile); House Democrats (60th percentile); Safe House Seats (48th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Grayson supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Grayson 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Grayson cosponsored H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (52nd percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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 2015) 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.