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Rep. Brian Higgins’s 2016 Report Card

Representative from New York's 26th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Higgins’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 Higgins’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 the 7th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to New York Delegation

Higgins’s bills and resolutions had 121 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 New York Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (28th percentile); House Democrats (29th percentile); All Representatives (31st percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 5th fewest bills compared to New York Delegation (tied with 5 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Higgins’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. 2536: TREAT Act

Compare to all New York Delegation (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (16th percentile); House Democrats (18th percentile); All Representatives (18th percentile).

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

Supported government transparency the 6th least often compared to New York Delegation (tied with 4 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Higgins supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Higgins 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Higgins cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act

Compare to all New York Delegation (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Democrats (4th percentile); All Representatives (31st percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 68th most often compared to All Representatives

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 354 bills that Higgins cosponsored, 34% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all New York Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); House Democrats (67th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

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

Ranked the 97th bottom/follower compared to All Representatives

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 Higgins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New York Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); House Democrats (27th percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Higgins 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 New York Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (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

Higgins introduced 16 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all New York Delegation (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (44th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Higgins introduced 1 bill in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 3350: Know the CBRN Terrorism Threats …

Compare to all New York Delegation (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); House Democrats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

4 of Higgins’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.Res. 307: Condemning the Republic of the …; H.R. 2536: TREAT Act; H.R. 2855: Veterans Education Flexibility Act; H.R. 3350: Know the CBRN Terrorism Threats …

Compare to all New York Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); House Democrats (56th 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. 6 of Higgins’s 16 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all New York Delegation (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (52nd percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Higgins held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Higgins’s Profile »

Compare to all New York Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Democrats (39th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Higgins cosponsored 354 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 New York Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); House Democrats (50th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).

 

Ideology Score

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 Higgins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New York Delegation (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (35th percentile); House Democrats (60th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Higgins missed 2.2% of votes (29 of 1,320 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Higgins’s Profile »

Compare to all New York Delegation (37th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); All Representatives (49th 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 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.