Rep. Elijah Cummings’s 2017 Report Card

Got influential cosponsors the most often compared to Maryland Delegation

4 of Cummings’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. 651: Unpaid Intern Protection Act of …; H.R. 901: MERCY Act; H.R. 1905: Fair Chance Act; H.R. 1906: REDEEM Act

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74^th percentile); House Democrats (72^nd percentile); All Representatives (76^th percentile).

Held the most committee positions compared to Maryland Delegation

Cummings held a leadership position on 1 committee 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 (76^th percentile); House Democrats (90^th percentile); All Representatives (90^th percentile).

Wrote the 2^nd most laws compared to Maryland Delegation

Cummings introduced 1 bill 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 3031: TSP Modernization Act of 2017

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81^st percentile); House Democrats (87^th percentile); All Representatives (79^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.

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2^nd most bills compared to Maryland Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 4 of Cummings’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55^th percentile); House Democrats (53^rd percentile); All Representatives (50^th percentile).

Was 3^rd most absent in votes compared to All Representatives

Cummings missed 33.7% of votes (239 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Cummings’s Profile »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99^th percentile); All Representatives (99^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 6^th most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 6 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cummings introduced 4 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 653: Federal Intern Protection Act of …; H.R. 702: Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act of …; H.R. 2229: All Circuit Review Act; H.R. 3031: TSP Modernization Act of 2017

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82^nd percentile); House Democrats (94^th percentile); All Representatives (82^nd percentile).

Joined bipartisan bills the 21^st least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 259 bills that Cummings cosponsored, 19% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (25^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (38^th percentile); House Democrats (10^th percentile); All Representatives (49^th percentile).

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

Ranked 31^st 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cummings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (13^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (10^th percentile); House Democrats (15^th percentile); All Representatives (7^th percentile).

Got bicameral support on the 24^th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 17 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 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. 859: Financial Services Conflict of Interest …; H.R. 901: MERCY Act; H.R. 1245: Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug …; H.R. 4138: Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act; H.Con.Res. 38: Recognizing the life and legacy …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (88^th percentile); House Democrats (90^th percentile); All Representatives (91^st percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 101^st most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

Cummings cosponsored 259 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 (70^th percentile); House Democrats (50^th percentile); All Representatives (76^th percentile).

Bills Introduced

Cummings introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (63^rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (62^nd percentile); House Democrats (65^th percentile); All Representatives (67^th percentile).

Cosponsors

Cummings’s bills and resolutions had 159 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 Maryland Delegation (50^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52^nd percentile); House Democrats (49^th percentile); All Representatives (56^th 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 2017 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 (33^rd percentile); House Democrats (41^st percentile); All Representatives (35^th percentile).

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Cummings supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Cummings 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Cummings cosponsored H.R. 73: Presidential Library Donation Reform Act …; H.R. 70: Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments …

Compare to all Maryland Delegation (50^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55^th percentile); House Democrats (40^th percentile); All Representatives (55^th percentile).