Rep. Barbara Lee’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from California's 13th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2023
These year-end statistics cover Lee’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her 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 Lee’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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Ranked 3rd most politically left compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 Lee’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (1st percentile); House Democrats (1st percentile); Safe House Seats (1st percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 6th least often compared to House DemocratsOf the 491 bills that Lee cosponsored, 14% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all California Delegation (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (35th percentile); House Democrats (3rd percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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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Introduced the 6th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Lee introduced 38 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all California Delegation (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); Safe House Seats (98th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 8th most bills compared to All RepresentativesLee cosponsored 491 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 California Delegation (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Democrats (96th percentile); Safe House Seats (98th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). |
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Was 10th most absent in votes compared to All RepresentativesLee missed 12.2% of votes (86 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Lee’s Profile » Compare to all California Delegation (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); Safe House Seats (97th percentile); All Representatives (98th 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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Ranked the 13th top leader compared to House DemocratsOur 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 Lee’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all California Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); Safe House Seats (79th percentile); All Representatives (80th percentile). |
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Got the 17th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesLee’s bills and resolutions had 629 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 California Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Democrats (96th percentile); Safe House Seats (96th percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 39th lowest % of bills compared to All RepresentativesLee tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 18% of Lee’s 38 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all California Delegation (23rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); House Democrats (29th percentile); Safe House Seats (21st percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Laws EnactedLee 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 California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Lee introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Lee’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. 263: Supporting the goals and ideals …; H.R. 2721: Pathways Out of Poverty Act …; H.R. 2972: Equal Access to Abortion Coverage … Compare to all California Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 157: Supporting the goals and ideals … Compare to all California Delegation (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); Safe House Seats (29th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsLee held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Lee’s Profile » Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Lee supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Lee 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Lee cosponsored H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 2173: Redistricting Reform Act of 2015; H.R. 3838: Fairness in Incarcerated Representation Act Compare to all California Delegation (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (81st percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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.
