Rep. Elijah Cummings’s 2018 Report Card
Representative
from Maryland's 7th District
Democrat
Served Apr 16, 1996 – Oct 17, 2019
These statistics cover Cummings’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.
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 Cummings’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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Was most absent in votes compared to All RepresentativesCummings missed 33.2% of votes (402 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Cummings’s Profile » Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); All Representatives (100th 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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Held the most committee positions compared to Maryland DelegationCummings 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 (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Democrats (90th percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile). |
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Wrote the most laws compared to Maryland Delegation (tied with 1 other)Cummings introduced 2 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th 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. 2229: All Circuit Review Act; H.R. 3031: TSP Modernization Act of 2017 Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (63rd 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. |
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Got their bills out of committee the 11th most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 11 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cummings introduced 5 bills in the 115th Congress 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. 1376: Electronic Message Preservation Act of …; H.R. 2229: All Circuit Review Act; H.R. 3031: TSP Modernization Act of 2017 Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Democrats (89th percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 20th least often compared to House DemocratsOf the 391 bills that Cummings cosponsored, 18% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Maryland Delegation (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (42nd 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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Got bicameral support on the 16th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 12 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing 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.R. 4878: Federal Labor-Management Partnership Act of …; H.R. 5545: Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency Act …; H.R. 5834: Witness Security and Protection Grant …; H.Con.Res. 38: Recognizing the life and legacy … Compare to all Maryland Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Democrats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (94th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Ranked 34th 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 the 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cummings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Maryland Delegation (12th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (10th percentile); House Democrats (16th percentile); All Representatives (8th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 72nd most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 26 others)6 of Cummings’s bills and resolutions in the 115th 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. 651: Unpaid Intern Protection Act of …; H.R. 901: MERCY Act; H.R. 1905: Fair Chance Act; H.R. 1906: REDEEM Act; H.R. 5545: Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency Act …; H.R. 5834: Witness Security and Protection Grant … Compare to all Maryland Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Bills IntroducedCummings introduced 20 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Maryland Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); House Democrats (54th percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 6 of Cummings’s 20 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Cummings caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Maryland Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Democrats (39th percentile); All Representatives (37th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Bills CosponsoredCummings cosponsored 391 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 (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (67th percentile); House Democrats (46th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile). |
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CosponsorsCummings’s bills and resolutions had 278 cosponsors in the 115th 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 (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Democrats (49th percentile); All Representatives (58th percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cummings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Maryland Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Cummings supported any of 32 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 (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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 the 115th Congress) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
