Rep. John Kline’s 2014 Report Card
Representative
from Minnesota's 2nd District
Republican
Served Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2017
These statistics cover Kline’s record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 12, 2015. Although Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA1], Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4], Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10], and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI] served in the 112th Congress, they took office within the last two months of the 112th Congress and here are grouped with other freshmen for the 113th Congress.
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 Kline’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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Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Minnesota DelegationOf the 266 bills that Kline cosponsored, 11% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); House Republicans (59th percentile); Safe House Seats (34th percentile); All Representatives (32nd 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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Held the most committee positions compared to Minnesota Delegation (tied with 1 other)Kline held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 subcommittees, 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 Kline’s Profile » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); Safe House Seats (89th percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile). |
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Was most present in votes compared to Minnesota Delegation (tied with 1 other)Kline missed 0.3% of votes (4 of 1,204 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Kline’s Profile » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (3rd percentile); Safe House Seats (6th percentile); All Representatives (6th 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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Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to Minnesota DelegationKline introduced 8 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (13th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (20th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Republicans (24th percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 2nd fewest bills compared to Minnesota DelegationKline cosponsored 266 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 Minnesota Delegation (13th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Republicans (74th percentile); Safe House Seats (57th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile). |
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Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Minnesota DelegationKline’s bills and resolutions had 131 cosponsors in the 113th 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 Minnesota Delegation (25th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); House Republicans (35th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (36th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 7th least often compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 4 others)1 of Kline’s bills and resolutions in the 113th 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. 10: Success and Opportunity through Quality … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (13th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (13th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); House Republicans (16th percentile); Safe House Seats (15th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 12th fewest bills compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 8 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 1971: To direct the Secretary of … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (25th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (24th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (18th percentile); House Republicans (24th percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got their bills out of committee the 44th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 14 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Kline introduced 4 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 5: Student Success Act; H.R. 10: Success and Opportunity through Quality …; H.R. 1911: Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act …; H.R. 4320: Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (73rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); House Republicans (77th percentile); Safe House Seats (87th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedKline introduced 1 bill that became law in the 113th 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. 1911: Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (25th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); House Republicans (58th percentile); Safe House Seats (65th percentile); All Representatives (65th 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Kline supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Kline 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (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 the 113th Congress) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
