Rep. Albio Sires’s 2013 Report Card
Representative
from New Jersey's 8th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2023
These year-end statistics cover Sires’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.
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 Sires’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 the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to New Jersey DelegationSires’s bills and resolutions had 91 cosponsors in 2013. 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 New Jersey Delegation (17th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 4th fewest bills compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 3 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 146: Collaborative Academic Research Efforts for ... Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (25th percentile); House Democrats (37th percentile); Safe House Seats (37th percentile); All Representatives (36th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Was 19th most absent in votes compared to All RepresentativesSires missed 10.3% of votes (66 of 641 votes) in 2013. View Sires’s Profile » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (75th percentile); Safe House Seats (95th percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile). The Speaker of the House is not included in this statistic because according to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, and the delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are also not included because they were not elligible to vote in any roll call votes. |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 70th most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 176 bills that Sires cosponsored, 35% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (67th percentile); House Democrats (67th percentile); Safe House Seats (87th percentile); All Representatives (84th 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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Laws EnactedSires introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Bills IntroducedSires introduced 8 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (33rd percentile); House Democrats (42nd percentile); Safe House Seats (44th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Sires introduced 0 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors2 of Sires’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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. 974: MOVE Freight Act of 2013; H.R. 2424: Community Parks Revitalization Act Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (42nd percentile); House Democrats (62nd percentile); Safe House Seats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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Committee PositionsSires 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 Sires’s Profile » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (17th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (46th percentile); All Representatives (47th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredSires cosponsored 176 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 New Jersey Delegation (67th percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); Safe House Seats (65th percentile); All Representatives (63rd percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Sires supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Sires 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
Additional Notes
The Speaker’s Votes: Missed votes are not computed for the Speaker of the House. According to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings.” In practice this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes but is not considered absent.
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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
