Rep. Elijah Cummings’s 2015 Report Card

Supported government transparency the most often compared to All Representatives

GovTrack looked at whether Cummings supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Cummings 9 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Cummings sponsored H.R. 2319: Electronic Message Preservation Act of …

Cummings cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 653: FOIA Act; H.R. 1069: Presidential Library Donation Reform Act …; H.R. 2347: Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments …; H.R. 2395: Inspector General Empowerment Act of …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (98^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99^th percentile); House Democrats (99^th percentile); Safe House Seats (100^th percentile); All Representatives (100^th percentile).

Introduced the most bills compared to Maryland Delegation

Cummings introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (64^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65^th percentile); House Democrats (74^th percentile); Safe House Seats (75^th percentile); All Representatives (75^th percentile).

Got their bills out of committee the most often compared to Maryland Delegation

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cummings introduced 2 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1557: Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act of …; H.R. 3231: Federal Intern Protection Act of …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (53^rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72^nd percentile); House Democrats (95^th percentile); Safe House Seats (77^th percentile); All Representatives (78^th percentile).

Was 2^nd most absent in votes compared to Maryland Delegation

Cummings missed 3.4% of votes (24 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Cummings’s Profile »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (69^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66^th percentile); Safe House Seats (71^st percentile); All Representatives (73^rd 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.

Held the 3^rd most committee positions compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Cummings held a leadership position on 2 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Cummings’s Profile »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98^th percentile); House Democrats (99^th percentile); Safe House Seats (99^th percentile); All Representatives (99^th percentile).

Got bicameral support on the 4^th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 8 of Cummings’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. 747: Proprietary Education Oversight Coordination Improvement …; H.R. 1055: Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of …; H.R. 2391: Medicaid Generic Drug Price Fairness …; H.R. 3065: Financial Services Conflict of Interest …; H.R. 3295: REBUILD Act; H.R. 3470: Fair Chance Act; H.R. 3513: Prescription Drug Affordability Act of …; H.R. 4194: Witness Security and Protection Grant …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (98^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98^th percentile); House Democrats (98^th percentile); Safe House Seats (98^th percentile); All Representatives (99^th percentile).

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

Ranked 5^th most politically left compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cummings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (25^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (8^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14^th percentile); House Democrats (20^th percentile); Safe House Seats (10^th percentile); All Representatives (9^th percentile).

Ranked the 9^th bottom/follower compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cummings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (38^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (15^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30^th percentile); House Democrats (43^rd percentile); Safe House Seats (33^rd percentile); All Representatives (34^th percentile).

Cosponsored the 10^th most bills compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Cummings cosponsored 233 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 Maryland Delegation (63^rd percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (81^st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73^rd percentile); House Democrats (52^nd percentile); Safe House Seats (73^rd percentile); All Representatives (74^th percentile).

Joined bipartisan bills the 18^th least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 233 bills that Cummings cosponsored, 19% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (38^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (58^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46^th percentile); House Democrats (9^th percentile); Safe House Seats (54^th percentile); All Representatives (52^nd percentile).

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

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 20^th lowest % of bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

Cummings tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 13% of Cummings’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (19^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (13^th percentile); House Democrats (14^th percentile); Safe House Seats (11^th percentile); All Representatives (10^th percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 40^th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 20 others)

5 of Cummings’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. 1557: Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act of …; H.R. 3065: Financial Services Conflict of Interest …; H.R. 3232: Unpaid Intern Protection Act of …; H.R. 3470: Fair Chance Act; H.R. 3997: To amend MAP-21 to establish …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (68^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81^st percentile); House Democrats (86^th percentile); Safe House Seats (85^th percentile); All Representatives (86^th percentile).

Laws Enacted

Cummings 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 Maryland Delegation (0^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0^th percentile); House Democrats (0^th percentile); Safe House Seats (0^th percentile); All Representatives (0^th 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.

Cosponsors

Cummings’s bills and resolutions had 117 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 Maryland Delegation (38^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (30^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (41^st percentile); House Democrats (47^th percentile); Safe House Seats (46^th percentile); All Representatives (47^th percentile).