Rep. Donald Beyer’s 2017 Report Card

Introduced the 2^nd fewest bills compared to Virginia Delegation

Beyer introduced 8 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (9^th percentile); House Sophomores (31^st percentile); House Democrats (27^th percentile); All Representatives (29^th percentile).

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2^nd fewest bills compared to Virginia Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 2 of Beyer’s 8 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (9^th percentile); House Sophomores (13^th percentile); House Democrats (19^th percentile); All Representatives (18^th percentile).

Got their bills out of committee the 3^rd least often compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 3 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Beyer introduced 1 bill in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1073: To authorize the Secretary of …

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18^th percentile); House Sophomores (27^th percentile); House Democrats (49^th percentile); All Representatives (29^th percentile).

Got the 7^th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Sophomores

Beyer’s bills and resolutions had 314 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 (45^th percentile); House Sophomores (89^th percentile); House Democrats (77^th percentile); All Representatives (79^th percentile).

Cosponsored the 9^th most bills compared to House Sophomores

Beyer cosponsored 289 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 (82^nd percentile); House Sophomores (85^th percentile); House Democrats (62^nd percentile); All Representatives (83^rd percentile).

Got bicameral support on the 9^th most bills compared to House Sophomores (tied with 2 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Beyer’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. 1566: NO HATE Act; H.R. 2158: Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act; H.R. 3684: PROVE Act

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (64^th percentile); House Sophomores (82^nd percentile); House Democrats (76^th percentile); All Representatives (76^th percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 47^th least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 289 bills that Beyer cosponsored, 23% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (64^th percentile); House Sophomores (66^th percentile); House Democrats (23^rd percentile); All Representatives (58^th 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 58^th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 47 others)

4 of Beyer’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. 852: Freedom of Religion Act of …; H.R. 2158: Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act; H.R. 3564: Security Clearance Review Act; H.R. 4694: Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness …

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (64^th percentile); House Sophomores (74^th percentile); House Democrats (72^nd percentile); All Representatives (76^th percentile).

Laws Enacted

Beyer 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 (0^th percentile); House Sophomores (0^th percentile); House Democrats (0^th percentile); All Representatives (0^th 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.

Committee Positions

Beyer 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 Beyer’s Profile »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18^th percentile); House Sophomores (45^th percentile); House Democrats (40^th percentile); All Representatives (39^th percentile).

Missed Votes

Beyer missed 2.3% of votes (16 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Beyer’s Profile »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (55^th percentile); House Sophomores (73^rd percentile); All Representatives (58^th 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 Beyer supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Beyer 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Beyer cosponsored H.R. 4396: ME TOO Congress Act; H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and …

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (45^th percentile); House Sophomores (52^nd percentile); House Democrats (40^th percentile); All Representatives (55^th percentile).