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Rep. Bradley Byrne’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Alabama's 1st District
Republican
Served Jan 8, 2014 – Jan 3, 2021

These year-end statistics cover Byrne’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 Byrne’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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the lowest % of bills compared to House Sophomores

Byrne tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 8% of Byrne’s 13 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (1st percentile); Safe House Seats (5th percentile); All Representatives (4th percentile).

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

Introduced the most bills compared to Alabama Delegation

Byrne introduced 13 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Sophomores (67th percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (64th percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 3rd most often compared to House Sophomores

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Byrne introduced 5 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 260: Providing for further consideration of …; H.Res. 274: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 369: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 449: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 466: Providing for consideration of the …

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Sophomores (96th percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); Safe House Seats (94th percentile); All Representatives (94th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 11th least often compared to House Sophomores

Of the 171 bills that Byrne cosponsored, 9% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (71st percentile); House Sophomores (14th percentile); House Republicans (46th percentile); Safe House Seats (27th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).

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

Ranked the 12th top leader compared to House Sophomores

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 Byrne’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (43rd percentile); House Sophomores (84th percentile); House Republicans (64th percentile); Safe House Seats (73rd percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile).

 

Was 16th most absent in votes compared to House Sophomores

Byrne missed 3.3% of votes (23 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Byrne’s Profile »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (71st percentile); House Sophomores (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (73rd 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.
 

Ranked 54th 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Byrne’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (71st percentile); House Sophomores (88th percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (86th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Byrne 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 Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (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.
 

Powerful Cosponsors

1 of Byrne’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. 596: To repeal the Patient Protection …

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (29th percentile); House Sophomores (16th percentile); House Republicans (22nd percentile); Safe House Seats (20th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Byrne’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.J.Res. 12: Proposing a balanced budget amendment …

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (57th percentile); House Sophomores (26th 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.
 

Committee Positions

Byrne 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 Byrne’s Profile »

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

 

Bills Cosponsored

Byrne cosponsored 171 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 Alabama Delegation (71st percentile); House Sophomores (34th percentile); House Republicans (68th percentile); Safe House Seats (48th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Byrne’s bills and resolutions had 167 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 Alabama Delegation (57th percentile); House Sophomores (60th percentile); House Republicans (61st percentile); Safe House Seats (58th percentile); All Representatives (59th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Byrne supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Byrne 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Byrne cosponsored H.R. 653: FOIA Act

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (71st percentile); House Sophomores (33rd 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.