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Rep. Betty McCollum’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from Minnesota's 4th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2001 – Jan 3, 2025


These year-end statistics cover McCollum’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare her to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

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 McCollum’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.

 

Wrote the most laws compared to Minnesota Delegation

McCollum introduced 2 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 266: Department of the Interior, Environment, …; H.R. 3052: Department of the Interior, Environment, …

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (89th 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.


 

Got influential cosponsors the most often compared to Minnesota Delegation (tied with 1 other)

3 of McCollum’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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. 775: Recognizing and honoring Smokey Bear’s …; H.R. 1128: Indian Programs Advanced Appropriations Act; H.R. 1695: Community Services Block Grant Reauthorization …

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (42nd percentile); All Representatives (59th percentile).


 

Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Minnesota Delegation

Of the 493 bills that McCollum cosponsored, 8% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Democrats (39th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile).

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


 

Got the 2nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to Minnesota Delegation

McCollum’s bills and resolutions had 260 cosponsors in 2019. 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 Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (49th percentile); House Democrats (47th percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile).


 

Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to Minnesota 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from McCollum’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Democrats (47th percentile); All Representatives (66th percentile).


 

Cosponsored the 34th most bills compared to All Representatives

McCollum cosponsored 493 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 Minnesota Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); House Democrats (86th percentile); All Representatives (92nd percentile).


 

Ranked 40th most politically left compared to All Representatives

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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from McCollum’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); House Democrats (17th percentile); All Representatives (9th percentile).


 

Introduced the 31st fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 19 others)

McCollum introduced 10 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (28th percentile); House Democrats (13th percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile).


 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 33rd fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 19 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 4 of McCollum’s 10 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party McCollum caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); House Democrats (14th percentile); All Representatives (30th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.


 

Held the 58th most committee positions compared to All Representatives (tied with 20 others)

McCollum held a leadership position on 0 committees and 2 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 McCollum’s Profile »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); House Democrats (80th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile).


 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. McCollum introduced 2 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 266: Department of the Interior, Environment, …; H.R. 3052: Department of the Interior, Environment, …

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); All Representatives (46th 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 McCollum’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. 733: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe …; H.R. 1128: Indian Programs Advanced Appropriations Act

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

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


 

Missed Votes

McCollum missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 701 votes) in 2019. View McCollum’s Profile »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.