Rep. Frank Pallone’s 2019 Report Card

Representative
from New Jersey's 6th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Pallone’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.
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 Pallone’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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Held the most committee positions compared to New Jersey DelegationPallone 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 (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Democrats (86th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile). |
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Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to New Jersey DelegationOur 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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Pallone’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (19th percentile); House Democrats (22nd percentile); All Representatives (12th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 4th fewest bills compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 3115: Living Shorelines Act of 2019; H.R. 3872: National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Wrote the 7th most laws compared to All Representatives (tied with 6 others)Pallone introduced 3 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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. 259: Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019; H.R. 477: To amend section 7 of …; H.R. 3375: Stopping Bad Robocalls Act Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); All Representatives (97th 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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Was 9th most present in votes compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 3 others)Pallone missed 0.3% of votes (2 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Pallone’s Profile » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); All Representatives (11th 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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Got influential cosponsors the 11th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 7 others)11 of Pallone’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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. 3: Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug …; H.R. 259: Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019; H.R. 260: Medicaid Provisions and TANF Extenders …; H.R. 341: COAST Anti-Drilling Act; H.R. 946: Stopping Bad Robocalls Act; H.R. 1884: Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions and Making …; H.R. 2741: Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America …; H.R. 3375: Stopping Bad Robocalls Act; H.R. 3630: No Surprises Act; H.R. 4459: Secure and Trusted Communications Networks …; H.R. 4998: Secure and Trusted Communications Networks … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (90th percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 19th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Pallone introduced 7 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 3: Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug …; H.R. 259: Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019; H.R. 477: To amend section 7 of …; H.R. 2339: Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic …; H.R. 3115: Living Shorelines Act of 2019; H.R. 3375: Stopping Bad Robocalls Act; H.R. 4998: Secure and Trusted Communications Networks … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Democrats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile). |
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Ranked the 20th top leader compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Pallone’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); House Democrats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile). |
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Got the 21st most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesPallone’s bills and resolutions had 922 cosponsors in 2019. 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 (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); House Democrats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 27th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 16 of Pallone’s 24 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Pallone caucused with in 2019. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); House Democrats (90th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 63rd least often compared to All RepresentativesOf the 307 bills that Pallone cosponsored, 7% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (17th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); All Representatives (14th 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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Introduced the 67th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 5 others)Pallone introduced 24 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Democrats (75th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredPallone cosponsored 307 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 (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); House Democrats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (68th 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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.