Rep. Diana DeGette’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from Colorado's 1st District
Democrat
Serving Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover DeGette’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her 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 DeGette’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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Was most present in votes compared to Colorado DelegationDeGette missed 0.9% of votes (6 of 704 votes) in 2015. View DeGette’s Profile » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (0th 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. |
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Got their bills out of committee the least often compared to Colorado Delegation (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. DeGette introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to Colorado DelegationOur 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 DeGette’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Colorado Delegation (14th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Democrats (63rd percentile); Safe House Seats (30th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile). |
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Ranked the 22nd top leader compared to House DemocratsOur 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 DeGette’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Colorado Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); House Democrats (89th percentile); Safe House Seats (74th percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 22nd fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 1 other)DeGette cosponsored 136 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 Colorado Delegation (14th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Democrats (11th percentile); Safe House Seats (30th percentile); All Representatives (30th percentile). |
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Got the 94th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesDeGette’s bills and resolutions had 307 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 Colorado Delegation (71st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Democrats (79th percentile); Safe House Seats (78th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 97th most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 136 bills that DeGette cosponsored, 30% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); Safe House Seats (79th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Laws EnactedDeGette 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 Colorado Delegation (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. |
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Bills IntroducedDeGette introduced 10 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (46th percentile); All Representatives (48th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of DeGette’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.Res. 558: Condemning violence that targets healthcare …; H.R. 771: Protecting Access to Diabetes Supplies …; H.R. 1482: Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of … Compare to all Colorado Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 47: Supporting women’s reproductive health care …; H.Res. 558: Condemning violence that targets healthcare …; H.R. 3656: Tobacco to 21 Act Compare to all Colorado Delegation (71st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (71st percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsDeGette 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 DeGette’s Profile » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether DeGette supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave DeGette 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. DeGette cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act … Compare to all Colorado Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (65th 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.
