Rep. Joe Courtney’s 2019 Report Card
Representative
from Connecticut's 2nd District
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Courtney’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 Courtney’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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Was 9th most present in votes compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 3 others)Courtney missed 0.3% of votes (2 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Courtney’s Profile » Compare to all 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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Ranked the 15th 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 Courtney’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). |
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Got the 19th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesCourtney’s bills and resolutions had 951 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 Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); House Democrats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile). |
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Ranked 55th most politically right compared to House DemocratsOur 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 Courtney’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); House Democrats (77th percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 61st fewest bills compared to House DemocratsCourtney cosponsored 257 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 Serving 10+ Years (47th percentile); House Democrats (25th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 76th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 19 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 11 of Courtney’s 14 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Courtney caucused with in 2019. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (69th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Got influential cosponsors the 76th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 20 others)5 of Courtney’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. 748: Middle Class Health Benefits Tax …; H.R. 1074: Protecting America’s Workers Act; H.R. 1309: Workplace Violence Prevention for Health …; H.R. 1682: Improving Access to Medicare Coverage …; H.R. 1707: Bank on Students Emergency Loan … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); House Democrats (64th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedCourtney introduced 1 bill 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. 748: Middle Class Health Benefits Tax … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); All Representatives (63rd 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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Bills IntroducedCourtney introduced 14 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); House Democrats (39th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Courtney introduced 2 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 748: Middle Class Health Benefits Tax …; H.R. 1309: Workplace Violence Prevention for Health … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Democrats (26th 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.Res. 454: Calling upon the United States …; H.R. 1257: United States Coast Guard Commemorative …; H.R. 1707: Bank on Students Emergency Loan … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); House Democrats (50th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsCourtney 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 Courtney’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 257 bills that Courtney cosponsored, 12% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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.
