Rep. Betty McCollum’s 2020 Report Card
Representative
from Minnesota's 4th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2001 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover McCollum’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare her to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.
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.
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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Minnesota DelegationOf the 673 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 (29th percentile); House Democrats (41st percentile); All Representatives (22nd 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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Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to Minnesota DelegationOur 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 the 116th Congress 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 (17th percentile); House Democrats (25th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile). |
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Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to Minnesota DelegationOur 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 the 116th Congress 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 (58th percentile); House Democrats (51st percentile); All Representatives (70th percentile). |
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Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Minnesota Delegation (tied with 1 other)McCollum introduced 17 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Democrats (15th percentile); All Representatives (36th percentile). |
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Wrote the 17th most laws compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 14 others)McCollum introduced 3 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th Congress. 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. 733: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe …; H.R. 3052: Department of the Interior, Environment, …; H.R. 7612: Department of the Interior, Environment, … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (84th 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. |
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Cosponsored the 55th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)McCollum cosponsored 673 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 (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile). |
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Held the 57th 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 (71st percentile); House Democrats (79th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. McCollum introduced 4 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 733: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe …; H.R. 3052: Department of the Interior, Environment, …; H.R. 5598: Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and …; H.R. 7612: Department of the Interior, Environment, … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); All Representatives (59th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors6 of McCollum’s bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress 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.Res. 1171: Recognizing the instrumental role United …; H.R. 733: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe …; H.R. 1128: Indian Programs Advanced Appropriations Act; H.R. 1695: Community Services Block Grant Reauthorization …; H.R. 5598: Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (64th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (71st 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. 1171: Recognizing the instrumental role United …; H.R. 733: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe …; H.R. 1128: Indian Programs Advanced Appropriations Act; H.R. 5790: Advancing FASD Research, Prevention, and … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Democrats (37th percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 9 of McCollum’s 17 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party McCollum caucused with in the 116th Congress. Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); All Representatives (48th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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CosponsorsMcCollum’s bills and resolutions had 493 cosponsors in the 116th Congress. 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 (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (62nd percentile); House Democrats (52nd percentile); All Representatives (72nd percentile). |
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Missed VotesMcCollum missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. 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 the 116th Congress) 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.
