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Rep. John Tierney’s 2014 Report Card

Representative from Massachusetts's 6th District
Democrat
Served Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2015

These statistics cover Tierney’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 Tierney’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 2nd most politically left compared to Competitive House Seats

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 113th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Tierney’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (11th percentile); Competitive House Seats (2nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (12th percentile); House Democrats (20th percentile); All Representatives (9th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 3rd least often compared to Massachusetts Delegation

Of the 378 bills that Tierney cosponsored, 25% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (22nd percentile); Competitive House Seats (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (60th percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

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

Was 9th most absent in votes compared to Competitive House Seats (tied with 1 other)

Tierney missed 3.3% of votes (40 of 1,204 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Tierney’s Profile »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (33rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); All Representatives (62nd 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.
 

Got bicameral support on the 11th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 10 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 7 of Tierney’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. 1946: Responsible Student Loan Solutions Act; H.R. 1979: Bank on Students Loan Fairness …; H.R. 2568: Essex National Heritage Area Reauthorization …; H.R. 3711: 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of …; H.R. 3824: Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act; H.R. 4582: Bank on Students Emergency Loan …; H.R. 5128: International Human Rights Defense Act …

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (89th percentile); Competitive House Seats (93rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

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

Got the 21st most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Democrats

Tierney’s bills and resolutions had 524 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 Massachusetts Delegation (78th percentile); Competitive House Seats (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); House Democrats (90th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile).

 

Ranked the 39th top leader compared to House Democrats

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 113th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Tierney’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (67th percentile); Competitive House Seats (68th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (60th percentile); House Democrats (81st percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 47th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 23 others)

6 of Tierney’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. 798: Workforce Investment Act of 2013; H.R. 1946: Responsible Student Loan Solutions Act; H.R. 2425: Earned Retiree Healthcare Benefits Protection …; H.R. 3824: Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act; H.R. 4582: Bank on Students Emergency Loan …; H.R. 4741: Surviving Spouses’ Benefit Improvement Act …

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (78th percentile); Competitive House Seats (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Democrats (84th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 61st most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Tierney cosponsored 378 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 Massachusetts Delegation (78th percentile); Competitive House Seats (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); House Democrats (73rd percentile); All Representatives (86th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Tierney introduced 0 bills 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.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (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.
 

Bills Introduced

Tierney introduced 15 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (67th percentile); Competitive House Seats (39th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); House Democrats (50th percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Tierney introduced 0 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Tierney tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 40% of Tierney’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (64th percentile); House Democrats (72nd percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Tierney 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 Tierney’s Profile »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (22nd percentile); Competitive House Seats (55th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Tierney supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Tierney 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (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.