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Rep. Don Bacon’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from Nebraska's 2nd District
Republican
Serving Jan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Bacon’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 Bacon’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 5th most bills compared to House Republicans

Bacon cosponsored 453 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 House Sophomores (67th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile).

 

Introduced the 11th fewest bills compared to House Sophomores (tied with 2 others)

Bacon introduced 13 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all House Sophomores (18th percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); All Representatives (24th percentile).

 

Got the 14th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House Sophomores

Bacon’s bills and resolutions had 149 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 House Sophomores (24th percentile); House Republicans (52nd percentile); All Representatives (31st percentile).

 

Was 13th most present in votes compared to House Sophomores (tied with 3 others)

Bacon missed 0.8% of votes (8 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Bacon’s Profile »

Compare to all House Sophomores (22nd percentile); All Representatives (23rd 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.
 

Joined bipartisan bills the 17th most often compared to All Representatives

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 453 bills that Bacon cosponsored, 63% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all House Sophomores (94th percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile).

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

Ranked 44th 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 the 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Bacon’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Sophomores (82nd percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Bacon 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. 504: DHS Field Engagement Accountability Act

Compare to all House Sophomores (35th percentile); House Republicans (51st 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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Bacon introduced 1 bill in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 504: DHS Field Engagement Accountability Act

Compare to all House Sophomores (9th percentile); House Republicans (29th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

0 of Bacon’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.

Compare to all House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (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. 3 of Bacon’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. 3116: State Flexibility for Family First …; H.R. 3536: Justice for Victims of Lynching …; H.R. 5395: Back the Blue Act of …

Compare to all House Sophomores (40th percentile); House Republicans (59th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

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

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 9 of Bacon’s 13 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Bacon caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all House Sophomores (54th percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (48th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Bacon 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 Bacon’s Profile »

Compare to all House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 Bacon’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Sophomores (29th percentile); House Republicans (54th percentile); All Representatives (32nd 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 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.