Rep. Blake Farenthold’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from Texas's 27th District
Republican
Served Jan 5, 2011 – Apr 6, 2018
These year-end statistics cover Farenthold’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 Farenthold’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 5th most politically right 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 Farenthold’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Texas Delegation (89th percentile); House Republicans (98th percentile); Safe House Seats (99th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 8th most bills compared to House RepublicansFarenthold cosponsored 277 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 (92nd percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); Safe House Seats (83rd percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 10th fewest bills compared to Texas Delegation (tied with 8 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 2745: Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews … Compare to all Texas Delegation (25th percentile); House Republicans (28th 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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 18th lowest % of bills compared to House RepublicansFarenthold tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 23% of Farenthold’s 13 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Texas Delegation (35th percentile); House Republicans (16th percentile); Safe House Seats (27th percentile); All Representatives (25th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Held the 54th most committee positions compared to All Representatives (tied with 14 others)Farenthold 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 Farenthold’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (67th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); Safe House Seats (84th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 51st most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 45 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Farenthold introduced 2 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 526: Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) …; H.R. 2745: Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews … Compare to all Texas Delegation (61st percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (77th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 61st most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 43 others)4 of Farenthold’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. 526: Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) …; H.R. 1199: Innocent Sellers Fairness Act; H.R. 2304: Securing Participation, Engagement, and Knowledge …; H.R. 2745: Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews … Compare to all Texas Delegation (58th percentile); House Republicans (75th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 97th least often compared to All RepresentativesOf the 277 bills that Farenthold cosponsored, 8% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (44th percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd 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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Laws EnactedFarenthold 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 Republicans (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 IntroducedFarenthold introduced 13 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (61st percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (64th percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile). |
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CosponsorsFarenthold’s bills and resolutions had 94 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 (31st percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (37th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 Farenthold’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Texas Delegation (39th percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); Safe House Seats (47th percentile); All Representatives (48th percentile). |
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Missed VotesFarenthold missed 1.1% of votes (8 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Farenthold’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (33rd percentile); Safe House Seats (35th percentile); All Representatives (36th 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Farenthold supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Farenthold 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Farenthold cosponsored H.R. 653: FOIA Act Compare to all Texas Delegation (50th percentile); House Republicans (69th percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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.
