Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from Oregon's 3rd District
Democrat
Serving May 21, 1996 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Blumenauer’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him 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 Blumenauer’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 13th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Blumenauer cosponsored 415 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 Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); Safe House Seats (96th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). |
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Got the 29th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 1 other)Blumenauer’s bills and resolutions had 338 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 Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Democrats (84th percentile); Safe House Seats (81st percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile). |
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Ranked the 43rd 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 Blumenauer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (60th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (64th percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 40th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 26 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 746: Animal Welfare in Agricultural Research …; H.R. 1534: Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures …; H.R. 1855: Small Business Tax Equity Act …; H.R. 2469: Columbia River Basin Restoration Act … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); Safe House Seats (84th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Ranked 53rd most politically left compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 Blumenauer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (27th percentile); Safe House Seats (13th percentile); All Representatives (12th percentile). |
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Introduced the 49th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)Blumenauer introduced 20 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (87th percentile); Safe House Seats (86th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 79th most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 415 bills that Blumenauer cosponsored, 33% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); House Democrats (61st percentile); Safe House Seats (84th percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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 EnactedBlumenauer 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 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 Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Blumenauer introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Blumenauer’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.R. 1274: Vision Zero Act of 2015; H.R. 2469: Columbia River Basin Restoration Act …; H.R. 2768: Superfund Reinvestment Act Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsBlumenauer tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 25% of Blumenauer’s 20 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); House Democrats (41st percentile); Safe House Seats (32nd percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Committee PositionsBlumenauer 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 Blumenauer’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Missed VotesBlumenauer missed 1.7% of votes (12 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Blumenauer’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); Safe House Seats (46th percentile); All Representatives (48th 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Blumenauer supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Blumenauer 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Blumenauer cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 4006: Statutes at Large Modernization Act Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (81st percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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.
