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Rep. Dean Phillips’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from Minnesota's 3rd District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2025


These statistics cover Phillips’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.

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 Phillips’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.

 

Got influential cosponsors the 3rd most often compared to House Freshmen (tied with 1 other)

8 of Phillips’s bills and resolutions in the 116th 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. 370: Expressing the sense of the …; H.Res. 1150: Urging the Government of Côte …; H.Res. 1173: Honoring the life, legacy, and …; H.R. 4842: EXPO Act of 2019; H.R. 6319: To establish a Congressional COVID-19 …; H.R. 6831: To amend the CARES Act …; H.R. 6832: To amend the CARES Act …; H.R. 6833: Utilizing and Supporting Evacuated Peace …

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (88th percentile); House Freshmen (96th percentile); House Democrats (70th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile).


 

Ranked 6th most politically right compared to House Democrats

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 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Phillips’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (60th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile).


 

Joined bipartisan bills the 7th most often compared to House Democrats

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 552 bills that Phillips cosponsored, 28% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (64th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); All Representatives (61st percentile).

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


 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 3 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 18 of Phillips’s 31 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Phillips caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); House Freshmen (87th percentile); House Democrats (73rd percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.


 

Introduced the 12th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 3 others)

Phillips introduced 31 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); House Freshmen (84th percentile); House Democrats (60th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).


 

Got their bills out of committee the 14th most often compared to House Freshmen (tied with 4 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Phillips introduced 6 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 1150: Urging the Government of Côte …; H.R. 3141: FHA Loan Affordability Act of …; H.R. 4841: Prudential Regulator Oversight Act; H.R. 4842: EXPO Act of 2019; H.R. 6782: TRUTH Act; H.R. 7010: Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act …

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); House Freshmen (81st percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile).


 

Cosponsored the 21st most bills compared to House Freshmen

Phillips cosponsored 552 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 Minnesota Delegation (62nd percentile); House Freshmen (78th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).


 

Laws Enacted

Phillips introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 7010: Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act …

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (41st percentile); House Democrats (25th percentile); All Representatives (37th 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.


 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 4 of Phillips’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.Res. 1173: Honoring the life, legacy, and …; H.R. 2503: Supporting Family Mental Health in …; H.R. 6010: Voter Choice Act; H.R. 6403: New Business Preservation Act

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (55th percentile); House Democrats (37th percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile).

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


 

Committee Positions

Phillips 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 Phillips’s Profile »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).


 

Cosponsors

Phillips’s bills and resolutions had 310 cosponsors in the 116th 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 Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (70th percentile); House Democrats (33rd percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile).


 

Leadership Score

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 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Phillips’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (72nd percentile); House Democrats (34th percentile); All Representatives (58th percentile).


 

Missed Votes

Phillips missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Phillips’s Profile »

Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (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.


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 116th Congress) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.