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Rep. Charles Boustany’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Louisiana's 3rd District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2017

These year-end statistics cover Boustany’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 Boustany’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 most bills compared to Louisiana Delegation

Boustany cosponsored 201 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 Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (62nd percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); Safe House Seats (63rd percentile); All Representatives (63rd percentile).

 

Was most present in votes compared to Louisiana Delegation

Boustany missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Boustany’s Profile »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (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.
 

Ranked the 4th top leader 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Boustany’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); House Republicans (98th percentile); Safe House Seats (99th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile).

 

Ranked 10th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 Boustany’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); Safe House Seats (89th percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 11th most bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 3 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 of Boustany’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. 440: Helping Individuals Regain Employment Act; H.R. 441: To provide for a technical …; H.R. 828: To amend title 31, United …; H.R. 3024: To amend title XVIII of …; H.R. 3161: Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement …

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (92nd percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); Safe House Seats (91st percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

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

Got the 14th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives

Boustany’s bills and resolutions had 677 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 Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); Safe House Seats (97th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 26th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years

Of the 201 bills that Boustany cosponsored, 8% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); Safe House Seats (24th 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.
 

Introduced the 28th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)

Boustany introduced 25 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); House Republicans (93rd percentile); Safe House Seats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 29th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 10 others)

6 of Boustany’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. 248: American Job Protection Act; H.R. 775: Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services …; H.R. 776: Stark Administrative Simplification Act of …; H.R. 928: To repeal the annual fee …; H.R. 2911: Small Business Healthcare Relief Act; H.R. 3024: To amend title XVIII of …

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); House Republicans (89th percentile); Safe House Seats (91st percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

 

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. Boustany introduced 2 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1430: Permanent CFC Look-Through Act of …; H.R. 2580: LTCH Technical Correction Act of …

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (77th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Boustany 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 Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Boustany tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 40% of Boustany’s 25 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); House Republicans (43rd percentile); Safe House Seats (59th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Boustany 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 Boustany’s Profile »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Boustany supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Boustany 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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.