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Rep. Chris Van Hollen’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Maryland's 8th District
Democrat
Served Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2017

These year-end statistics cover Van Hollen’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 Van Hollen’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 most cosponsors on their bills compared to Maryland Delegation

Van Hollen’s bills and resolutions had 251 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 Maryland Delegation (88th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (55th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); House Democrats (70th percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (73rd percentile).

 

Ranked most politically left compared to Maryland Delegation

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 Van Hollen’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); House Democrats (6th percentile); Safe House Seats (3rd percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile).

 

Was most present in votes compared to Maryland Delegation

Van Hollen missed 0.9% of votes (6 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Van Hollen’s Profile »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); Safe House Seats (25th percentile); All Representatives (25th 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 bipartisan cosponsors on the 2nd lowest % of bills compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Van Hollen tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 8% of Van Hollen’s 12 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (3rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); Safe House Seats (6th percentile); All Representatives (6th percentile).

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

Introduced the 2nd most bills compared to Maryland Delegation

Van Hollen introduced 12 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (45th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Democrats (58th percentile); Safe House Seats (58th percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

 

Held the 2nd most committee positions compared to Maryland Delegation

Van Hollen held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 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 Van Hollen’s Profile »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); House Democrats (89th percentile); Safe House Seats (87th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to Maryland Delegation

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 Van Hollen’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Democrats (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (54th percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 5th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Van Hollen supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Van Hollen 7 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Van Hollen sponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act

Van Hollen cosponsored H.R. 425: Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 2143: EMPOWER Act; H.R. 2173: Redistricting Reform Act of 2015

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); Safe House Seats (98th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 25th most bills compared to All Representatives

Van Hollen cosponsored 349 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 Maryland Delegation (88th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Democrats (88th percentile); Safe House Seats (94th percentile); All Representatives (94th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 28th least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 349 bills that Van Hollen cosponsored, 21% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (50th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (64th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Democrats (14th percentile); Safe House Seats (58th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 28th most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 15 others)

4 of Van Hollen’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. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 551: IDEA Full Funding Act; H.R. 2563: State and Local Predatory Towing …; H.R. 3064: Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (63rd percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Van Hollen 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 Maryland Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Van Hollen introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 Van Hollen’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. 744: Medical Innovation Act of 2015

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (50th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); House Democrats (30th 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.

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.