Rep. Ed Whitfield’s 2013 Report Card
Representative
from Kentucky's 1st District
Republican
Served Jan 4, 1995 – Sep 7, 2016
These year-end statistics cover Whitfield’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.
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 Whitfield’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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Introduced the most bills compared to Kentucky DelegationWhitfield introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); Safe House Seats (79th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 3rd highest % of bills compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 80% of Whitfield’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013. Compare to all House Republicans (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); Safe House Seats (98th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Got bicameral support on the 10th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 8 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 800: To amend part B of …; H.R. 1274: Access to Quality Diabetes Education …; H.R. 2534: Transportation and Regional Infrastructure Project …; H.R. 2977: Medicare Safe Needle Disposal Coverage … Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); House Republicans (92nd percentile); Safe House Seats (91st percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Ranked the 23rd top leader compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Whitfield’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); Safe House Seats (94th percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile). |
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Got the 30th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesWhitfield’s bills and resolutions had 480 cosponsors in 2013. 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 Kentucky Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (90th percentile); House Republicans (92nd percentile); Safe House Seats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 30th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 21 others)3 of Whitfield’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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. 1518: PAST Act; H.R. 2351: To repeal the fossil fuel …; H.R. 3528: National All Schedules Prescription Electronic … Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (74th percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 53rd most often compared to House RepublicansIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 121 bills that Whitfield cosponsored, 13% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Republicans (77th percentile); Safe House Seats (44th percentile); All Representatives (41st 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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Ranked 56th most politically left compared to House RepublicansOur 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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Whitfield’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Republicans (24th percentile); Safe House Seats (58th percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedWhitfield introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or 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. Whitfield introduced 0 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsWhitfield 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 Whitfield’s Profile » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); House Republicans (50th percentile); Safe House Seats (46th percentile); All Representatives (47th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredWhitfield cosponsored 121 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 Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (29th percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); Safe House Seats (28th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile). |
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Missed VotesWhitfield missed 2.7% of votes (17 of 641 votes) in 2013. View Whitfield’s Profile » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43rd percentile); Safe House Seats (56th percentile); All Representatives (57th 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 Whitfield supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Whitfield 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
