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Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Texas's 16th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2019

These year-end statistics cover O’Rourke’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 O’Rourke’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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Supported government transparency the most often compared to House Sophomores

GovTrack looked at whether O’Rourke supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave O’Rourke 6 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

O’Rourke sponsored H.R. 3854: Real Time Transparency Act of …

O’Rourke cosponsored H.R. 367: Campaign Sunlight Act of 2015; H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (97th percentile); House Sophomores (99th percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); Safe House Seats (97th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 4th most often compared to Texas Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 177 bills that O’Rourke cosponsored, 34% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (89th percentile); House Sophomores (74th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (86th 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.
 

Ranked 7th most politically left compared to Texas 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 O’Rourke’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (17th percentile); House Sophomores (40th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (37th percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile).

 

Ranked the 8th bottom/follower compared to Texas Delegation

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 O’Rourke’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (19th percentile); House Sophomores (21st percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); Safe House Seats (24th percentile); All Representatives (25th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th highest % of bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 2 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 50% of O’Rourke’s 16 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (76th percentile); House Sophomores (72nd percentile); House Democrats (88th percentile); Safe House Seats (76th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).

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

Introduced the 9th most bills compared to House Sophomores (tied with 2 others)

O’Rourke introduced 16 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (75th percentile); House Sophomores (85th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (78th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile).

 

Got the 10th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Texas Delegation

O’Rourke’s bills and resolutions had 78 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 Texas Delegation (25th percentile); House Sophomores (30th percentile); House Democrats (32nd percentile); Safe House Seats (32nd percentile); All Representatives (33rd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

O’Rourke 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 Texas Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (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. O’Rourke introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

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

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of O’Rourke’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.R. 800: Express Appeals Act; H.R. 1319: Ask Veterans Act

Compare to all Texas Delegation (31st percentile); House Sophomores (52nd 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. 2 of O’Rourke’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. 883: Emergency Port of Entry Personnel …; H.R. 3854: Real Time Transparency Act of …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (53rd percentile); House Democrats (54th percentile); Safe House Seats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

O’Rourke 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 O’Rourke’s Profile »

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

 

Bills Cosponsored

O’Rourke cosponsored 177 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 Texas Delegation (67th percentile); House Sophomores (37th percentile); House Democrats (27th percentile); Safe House Seats (52nd percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

O’Rourke missed 2.4% of votes (17 of 704 votes) in 2015. View O’Rourke’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (53rd percentile); House Sophomores (70th percentile); Safe House Seats (58th percentile); All Representatives (61st 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.

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.