Rep. Janice “Jan” Schakowsky’s 2019 Report Card
Representative
from Illinois's 9th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 6, 1999 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Schakowsky’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare her 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 Schakowsky’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.
|
|
Ranked 2nd 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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Schakowsky’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Illinois Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (1st percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
|
|
Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to All RepresentativesSchakowsky cosponsored 806 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 Illinois Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); House Democrats (99th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile). |
|
|
Got bicameral support on the 6th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 875: Safeguard American Food Exports Act …; H.R. 961: Safeguard American Food Exports Act …; H.R. 2085: CHOICE Act; H.R. 2150: Home Health Care Planning Improvement …; H.R. 2211: STURDY Act; H.R. 2581: Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital …; H.R. 3145: Protecting Americans from the Risks …; H.R. 3170: Safe Cribs Act of 2019; H.R. 3240: Public Engagement at FERC Act; H.R. 3605: Protecting American Consumers from Robocalls …; H.R. 4064: Eleanor Smith Inclusive Home Design …; H.R. 4769: Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and … Compare to all Illinois Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
|
|
Ranked the 9th 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 Schakowsky’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Illinois Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); House Democrats (96th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). |
|
|
Got the 14th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesSchakowsky’s bills and resolutions had 1,114 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 Illinois Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). |
|
|
Got influential cosponsors the 19th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)10 of Schakowsky’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. 961: Safeguard American Food Exports Act …; H.R. 1948: Lymphedema Treatment Act of 2019; H.R. 2150: Home Health Care Planning Improvement …; H.R. 2211: STURDY Act; H.R. 2581: Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital …; H.R. 2781: Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing …; H.R. 3604: Safe Hydration is an American …; H.R. 4296: Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care …; H.R. 5216: Quality Care for Nursing Home …; H.R. 5267: International Violence Against Women Act … Compare to all Illinois Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); House Democrats (91st percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile). |
|
|
Joined bipartisan bills the 22nd least often compared to All RepresentativesOf the 806 bills that Schakowsky cosponsored, 5% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (6th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); All Representatives (5th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
|
|
Introduced the 60th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)Schakowsky introduced 26 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (86th percentile). |
|
|
Got their bills out of committee the 59th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 23 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Schakowsky introduced 4 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 2211: STURDY Act; H.R. 2296: More Efficient Tools to Realize …; H.R. 2781: Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing …; H.R. 3170: Safe Cribs Act of 2019 Compare to all Illinois Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Democrats (70th percentile); All Representatives (81st percentile). |
|
|
Laws EnactedSchakowsky introduced 0 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. Compare to all Illinois Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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. |
|
|
Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 8 of Schakowsky’s 26 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Schakowsky caucused with in 2019. Compare to all Illinois Delegation (28th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
|
|
Committee PositionsSchakowsky held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Schakowsky’s Profile » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile). |
|
|
Missed VotesSchakowsky missed 1.0% of votes (7 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Schakowsky’s Profile » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); All Representatives (35th 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 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.
