Rep. Elijah Cummings’s 2016 Report Card

Wrote the most laws compared to Maryland Delegation

Cummings introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th 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. 5920: Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48^th percentile); House Democrats (55^th percentile); All Representatives (49^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.

Introduced the most bills compared to Maryland Delegation (tied with 1 other)

Cummings introduced 22 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66^th percentile); House Democrats (70^th percentile); All Representatives (72^nd percentile).

Held the 2^nd 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 (99^th percentile); House Democrats (99^th percentile); All Representatives (99^th percentile).

Supported government transparency the 2^nd most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

GovTrack looked at whether Cummings supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Cummings 12 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 …; H.R. 5920: Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act

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); Serving 10+ Years (99^th percentile); House Democrats (98^th percentile); All Representatives (99^th percentile).

Was 3^rd most present in votes compared to Maryland Delegation

Cummings missed 2.9% of votes (39 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Cummings’s Profile »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (25^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45^th 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.

Got their bills out of committee the 4^th most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 2 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cummings introduced 4 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1557: Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act of …; H.R. 2319: Electronic Message Preservation Act of …; H.R. 3231: Federal Intern Protection Act of …; H.R. 5920: Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82^nd percentile); House Democrats (97^th percentile); All Representatives (82^nd percentile).

Got bicameral support on the 12^th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 9 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 …; H.R. 5592: Derivatives Oversight and Taxpayer Protection …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94^th percentile); House Democrats (94^th percentile); All Representatives (95^th percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 25^th least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 372 bills that Cummings cosponsored, 21% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (38^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45^th percentile); House Democrats (13^th percentile); All Representatives (54^th percentile).

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

Ranked 30^th most politically left 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 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cummings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (25^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (11^th percentile); House Democrats (15^th percentile); All Representatives (7^th percentile).

Got influential cosponsors the 35^th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 7 others)

9 of Cummings’s bills and resolutions in the 114th 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.

Those bills were: H.R. 1055: Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of …; 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 …; H.R. 4194: Witness Security and Protection Grant …; H.R. 4533: Net Price Calculator Improvement Act; H.R. 5920: Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85^th percentile); House Democrats (90^th percentile); All Representatives (90^th percentile).

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 43^rd fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 23 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 3 of Cummings’s 22 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (25^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (25^th percentile); House Democrats (22^nd percentile); All Representatives (23^rd percentile).

Cosponsored the 99^th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)

Cummings cosponsored 372 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); Serving 10+ Years (73^rd percentile); House Democrats (53^rd percentile); All Representatives (77^th percentile).

Cosponsors

Cummings’s bills and resolutions had 213 cosponsors in the 114th 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 Maryland Delegation (38^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46^th percentile); House Democrats (48^th percentile); All Representatives (51^st 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 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cummings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (50^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32^nd percentile); House Democrats (41^st percentile); All Representatives (32^nd percentile).