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Rep. Blake Farenthold’s 2016 Report Card

Representative from Texas's 27th District
Republican
Served Jan 5, 2011 – Apr 6, 2018

These statistics cover Farenthold’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.

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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Cosponsored the 7th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 1 other)

Farenthold cosponsored 390 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 (86th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); All Representatives (80th percentile).

 

Was 8th most present in votes compared to Texas Delegation

Farenthold missed 1.1% of votes (14 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Farenthold’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (19th percentile); All Representatives (22nd 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.
 

Got bicameral support on the 6th fewest bills compared to Texas Delegation (tied with 6 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Farenthold’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. 2745: Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (14th percentile); House Republicans (19th percentile); All Representatives (18th percentile).

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

Got the 9th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Texas Delegation

Farenthold’s bills and resolutions had 112 cosponsors in the 114th 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 Texas Delegation (22nd percentile); House Republicans (28th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile).

 

Ranked 10th most politically right 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Farenthold’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (89th percentile); House Republicans (96th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 16th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 6 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Farenthold supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Farenthold 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Farenthold cosponsored H.R. 653: FOIA Act; H.R. 4702: Equal Access to Congressional Research …; H.R. 5051: OPEN Government Data Act

Compare to all Texas Delegation (81st percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (67th percentile).

 

Held the 53rd most committee positions compared to All Representatives (tied with 16 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); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 109th least often compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

Of the 390 bills that Farenthold cosponsored, 10% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (47th percentile); House Republicans (43rd percentile); All Representatives (25th percentile).

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

Laws Enacted

Farenthold introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th Congress. 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); All Representatives (0th 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.
 

Bills Introduced

Farenthold introduced 14 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (39th percentile); House Republicans (46th percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Farenthold introduced 2 bills in the 114th Congress 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 (39th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

4 of Farenthold’s bills and resolutions in the 114th 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.R. 526: Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) …; H.R. 1199: Innocent Sellers Fairness Act; H.R. 2304: SPEAK FREE Act of 2015; H.R. 2745: Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (39th percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 5 of Farenthold’s 14 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (42nd percentile); House Republicans (41st percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile).

 

Leadership Score

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 the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Farenthold’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (31st percentile); House Republicans (27th percentile); All Representatives (35th 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 the 114th Congress) 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.