skip to main content
Hide All The Ads With a Yearly Membership Subscribe ▶

Rep. Garret Graves’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from Louisiana's 6th District
Republican
Serving Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Graves’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.

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 Graves’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.

Jump to...

 

Got bicameral support on the fewest bills compared to Louisiana Delegation

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 0 of Graves’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.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

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

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the most bills compared to Louisiana Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 9 of Graves’s 15 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Graves caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (48th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Was 2nd most present in votes compared to Louisiana Delegation

Graves missed 3.5% of votes (33 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Graves’s Profile »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (17th percentile); All Representatives (69th 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.
 

Held the 3rd most committee positions compared to House Republicans (tied with 2 others)

Graves held a leadership position on 1 committee and 1 subcommittee, 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 Graves’s Profile »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 17th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 14 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Graves introduced 4 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1079: Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services …; H.R. 1311: To amend the Robert T. …; H.R. 4275: To amend the Federal Water …; H.R. 5126: DESCEND Act of 2020

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (67th percentile); House Republicans (84th percentile); All Representatives (59th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 27th fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Graves cosponsored 120 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 Louisiana Delegation (17th percentile); House Republicans (11th percentile); All Representatives (6th percentile).

 

Ranked 34th most politically left compared to House Republicans

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 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Graves’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (17th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 32nd most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 17 others)

4 of Graves’s bills and resolutions in the 116th 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. 1562: Commercial Space Transportation Safety Act …; H.R. 5126: DESCEND Act of 2020; H.R. 8333: Building United States Infrastructure through …; H.R. 8853: To direct the Secretary of …

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (75th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 74th most often compared to All Representatives

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 120 bills that Graves cosponsored, 47% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).

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

Got the 97th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

Graves’s bills and resolutions had 107 cosponsors in the 116th 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 Louisiana Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Graves introduced 2 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th 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. 1079: Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services …; H.R. 5126: DESCEND Act of 2020

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (67th percentile); House Republicans (80th percentile); All Representatives (67th 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.
 

Bills Introduced

Graves introduced 15 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (51st percentile); All Representatives (29th 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 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Graves’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (49th percentile); All Representatives (28th 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 116th Congress) 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.