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Rep. David “Dave” Brat’s 2017 Report Card

Representative from Virginia's 7th District
Republican
Served Nov 12, 2014 – Jan 3, 2019

These year-end statistics cover Brat’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.

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 Brat’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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Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Virginia Delegation

Of the 165 bills that Brat cosponsored, 5% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (11th percentile); House Republicans (15th percentile); All Representatives (8th percentile).

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

Got their bills out of committee the least often compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 1 other)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Brat introduced 0 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

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

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 3rd fewest bills compared to Virginia Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 3 of Brat’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); House Sophomores (37th percentile); House Republicans (34th percentile); All Representatives (37th percentile).

 

Ranked the 15th 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Brat’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (45th percentile); House Sophomores (76th percentile); House Republicans (61st percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 24th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 17 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 of Brat’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. 247: Health Savings Account Expansion Act …; H.R. 937: Universal Savings Account Act; H.R. 1752: Voluntary Checkoff Program Participation Act; H.R. 1753: Opportunities for Fairness in Farming …; H.R. 2125: BASIC Act

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (82nd percentile); House Sophomores (94th percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

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

Ranked 35th 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Brat’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (91st percentile); House Sophomores (84th percentile); House Republicans (85th percentile); All Representatives (92nd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Brat introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (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

Brat introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (45th percentile); House Sophomores (68th percentile); House Republicans (68th percentile); All Representatives (67th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

1 of Brat’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 2157: OCEAN Act

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (23rd percentile); House Republicans (20th percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Brat 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 Brat’s Profile »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); House Sophomores (45th percentile); House Republicans (37th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Brat cosponsored 165 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 Virginia Delegation (27th percentile); House Sophomores (44th percentile); House Republicans (67th percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Brat’s bills and resolutions had 163 cosponsors in 2017. 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 Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); House Sophomores (71st percentile); House Republicans (63rd percentile); All Representatives (58th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Brat missed 1.5% of votes (11 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Brat’s Profile »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); House Sophomores (58th percentile); All Representatives (45th 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.
 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Brat supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Brat 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Brat cosponsored H.R. 2678: ETHICS Act of 2017; H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and …; H.R. 4494: Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund …

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (73rd percentile); House Sophomores (69th percentile); House Republicans (84th percentile); All Representatives (79th 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 2017) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.