Rep. Joe Barton’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from Texas's 6th District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 1985 – Jan 3, 2019
These year-end statistics cover Barton’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.
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 Barton’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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Cosponsored the 41st fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Barton cosponsored 89 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 Texas Delegation (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (11th percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); Safe House Seats (10th percentile); All Representatives (9th percentile). |
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Got the 72nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesBarton’s bills and resolutions had 346 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 Texas Delegation (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); Safe House Seats (83rd percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 61st most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 43 others)4 of Barton’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.R. 546: ACE Kids Act of 2015; H.R. 666: To adapt to changing crude …; H.R. 702: To adapt to changing crude …; H.R. 2888: Internet Poker Freedom Act of … Compare to all Texas Delegation (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Republicans (75th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile). |
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Was 102nd most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)Barton missed 3.8% of votes (27 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Barton’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (64th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); Safe House Seats (74th percentile); All Representatives (76th 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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Laws EnactedBarton introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Texas Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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. |
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Bills IntroducedBarton introduced 9 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (39th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Barton introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 702: To adapt to changing crude … Compare to all Texas Delegation (39th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Republicans (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 546: ACE Kids Act of 2015; H.R. 666: To adapt to changing crude …; H.R. 702: To adapt to changing crude … Compare to all Texas Delegation (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Republicans (71st percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsBarton 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 Barton’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 89 bills that Barton cosponsored, 12% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (28th percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (39th percentile); All Representatives (37th 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Barton supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Barton 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Texas Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 2015) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
