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Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’s 2020 Report Card

House Democratic Caucus Chair
Representative from New York's 8th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Jeffries’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.

Members of Congress with party leadership roles often do not participate in the legislative process in the same way as other Members of Congress. Since Jeffries was busy being House Democratic Caucus Chair, the metrics of legislative activity listed below may not apply.

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 Jeffries’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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Ranked most politically left compared to House Party Leaders

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 Jeffries’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Party Leaders (0th percentile); New York Delegation (37th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); All Representatives (20th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2nd most bills compared to House Party Leaders

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 14 of Jeffries’s 38 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Jeffries caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all House Party Leaders (78th percentile); New York Delegation (48th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 3rd fewest bills compared to New York Delegation

Jeffries cosponsored 284 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 House Party Leaders (78th percentile); New York Delegation (7th percentile); House Democrats (8th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 3rd most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Jeffries introduced 25 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 7: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 24: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 26: Electing Members to a certain …; H.Res. 31: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 42: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 46: Electing Members to a certain …; H.Res. 57: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 67: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 73: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 85: Electing Members to a certain …; H.Res. 125: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 148: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 712: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 725: Electing a certain Member to …; H.Res. 773: Electing certain Members to a …; H.Res. 793: Electing a certain Member to …; H.Res. 870: Electing a Member to a …; H.Res. 1135: Electing certain Members to certain …; H.R. 2374: Stop STALLING Act; H.R. 2426: CASE Act of 2019; H.R. 4508: Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act; H.R. 5065: Prison to Proprietorship for Formerly …; H.R. 5546: Effective Assistance of Counsel in …; H.R. 5586: Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional …; H.R. 8124: Criminal Judicial Administration Act of …

Compare to all House Party Leaders (89th percentile); New York Delegation (89th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 31st most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 7 others)

12 of Jeffries’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. 1968: Shirley Chisholm Congressional Gold Medal …; H.R. 1999: Fair Licensing Access for Governments …; H.R. 2374: Stop STALLING Act; H.R. 2426: CASE Act of 2019; H.R. 2843: Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act; H.R. 3199: Terminating the Extension of Rights …; H.R. 3380: Security from Political Interference in …; H.R. 4408: Eric Garner Excessive Use of …; H.R. 5546: Effective Assistance of Counsel in …; H.R. 5586: Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional …; H.R. 6019: Cure the Coronavirus Act; H.R. 6400: Emergency Community Supervision Act

Compare to all House Party Leaders (78th percentile); New York Delegation (78th percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

 

Ranked the 64th top leader compared to All Representatives

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 Jeffries’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Party Leaders (78th percentile); New York Delegation (70th percentile); House Democrats (75th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile).

 

Introduced the 63rd most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 8 others)

Jeffries introduced 38 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (78th percentile); New York Delegation (70th percentile); House Democrats (75th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Got the 76th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives

Jeffries’s bills and resolutions had 696 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 House Party Leaders (78th percentile); New York Delegation (70th percentile); House Democrats (69th percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Jeffries introduced 1 bill 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. 4508: Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act

Compare to all House Party Leaders (22nd percentile); New York Delegation (22nd percentile); House Democrats (25th percentile); All Representatives (37th 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.
 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 4 of Jeffries’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. 1999: Fair Licensing Access for Governments …; H.R. 2426: CASE Act of 2019; H.R. 3380: Security from Political Interference in …; H.R. 6400: Emergency Community Supervision Act

Compare to all House Party Leaders (33rd percentile); New York Delegation (41st percentile); House Democrats (37th percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Jeffries held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Jeffries’s Profile »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (0th percentile); New York Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 284 bills that Jeffries cosponsored, 9% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (44th percentile); New York Delegation (44th percentile); House Democrats (50th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Jeffries missed 2.2% of votes (21 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Jeffries’s Profile »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (44th percentile); New York Delegation (59th percentile); All Representatives (51st 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.

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.