Rep. Frank Pallone’s 2015 Report Card

Held the 2^nd most committee positions compared to New Jersey Delegation

Pallone 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 Pallone’s Profile »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (83^rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71^st percentile); House Democrats (89^th percentile); Safe House Seats (87^th percentile); All Representatives (88^th percentile).

Got the 2^nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to New Jersey Delegation

Pallone’s bills and resolutions had 252 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 New Jersey Delegation (83^rd percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (57^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63^rd percentile); House Democrats (70^th percentile); Safe House Seats (71^st percentile); All Representatives (73^rd percentile).

Ranked 3^rd most politically left compared to New Jersey Delegation

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 Pallone’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (17^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (26^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30^th percentile); House Democrats (53^rd percentile); Safe House Seats (26^th percentile); All Representatives (23^rd percentile).

Ranked the 3^rd top leader compared to New Jersey Delegation

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 Pallone’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (75^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (45^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56^th percentile); House Democrats (73^rd percentile); Safe House Seats (59^th percentile); All Representatives (60^th percentile).

Joined bipartisan bills the 7^th most often compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 134 bills that Pallone cosponsored, 30% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (58^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (87^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74^th percentile); House Democrats (51^st percentile); Safe House Seats (78^th percentile); All Representatives (77^th percentile).

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

Got bicameral support on the 12^th most bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 4 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 of Pallone’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. 801: Disaster Assistance Recoupment Fairness Act …; H.R. 1321: Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015; H.R. 1977: Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism …; H.R. 4061: Food Labeling Modernization Act of …; H.R. 4136: Beach Act of 2015

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (83^rd percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (92^nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (92^nd percentile); House Democrats (92^nd percentile); Safe House Seats (91^st percentile); All Representatives (91^st percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 14^th least often compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 9 others)

2 of Pallone’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.Res. 400: Commemorating 50 years since the …; H.R. 1321: Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (50^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (25^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36^th percentile); House Democrats (38^th percentile); Safe House Seats (43^rd percentile); All Representatives (44^th percentile).

Cosponsored the 21^st fewest bills compared to House Democrats

Pallone cosponsored 134 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 New Jersey Delegation (17^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (32^nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31^st percentile); House Democrats (10^th percentile); Safe House Seats (29^th percentile); All Representatives (29^th percentile).

Got their bills out of committee the 14^th least often compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 14 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Pallone introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1321: Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (25^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (25^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45^th percentile); House Democrats (66^th percentile); Safe House Seats (45^th percentile); All Representatives (46^th percentile).

Laws Enacted

Pallone introduced 1 bill that became law in 2015. 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. 1321: Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (67^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (70^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (78^th percentile); House Democrats (85^th percentile); Safe House Seats (82^nd percentile); All Representatives (82^nd 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.

Bills Introduced

Pallone introduced 11 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (58^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (40^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46^th percentile); House Democrats (52^nd percentile); Safe House Seats (54^th percentile); All Representatives (55^th percentile).

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Pallone tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 27% of Pallone’s 11 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (50^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43^rd percentile); House Democrats (47^th percentile); Safe House Seats (36^th percentile); All Representatives (34^th percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Pallone missed 1.1% of votes (8 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Pallone’s Profile »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (42^nd percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (44^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (28^th percentile); Safe House Seats (35^th percentile); All Representatives (36^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.

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Pallone supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Pallone 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Pallone cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (58^th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (68^th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59^th percentile); House Democrats (31^st percentile); Safe House Seats (62^nd percentile); All Representatives (65^th percentile).