Rep. Ken Buck’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from Colorado's 4th District
Republican
Serving Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Buck’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 Buck’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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Introduced the fewest bills compared to Colorado DelegationBuck introduced 5 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (33rd percentile); House Republicans (17th percentile); Safe House Seats (14th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to Colorado DelegationBuck cosponsored 104 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 Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (19th percentile); House Republicans (21st percentile); Safe House Seats (15th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Colorado DelegationOf the 104 bills that Buck cosponsored, 5% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (19th percentile); House Republicans (20th percentile); Safe House Seats (12th percentile); All Representatives (11th 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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Got the fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Colorado DelegationBuck’s bills and resolutions had 29 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 Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (31st percentile); House Republicans (14th percentile); Safe House Seats (12th percentile); All Representatives (13th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 2nd least often compared to Colorado Delegation (tied with 1 other)1 of Buck’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. 4001: Fix the Footnotes Act of … Compare to all Colorado Delegation (14th percentile); House Freshmen (31st percentile); House Republicans (22nd percentile); Safe House Seats (20th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile). |
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Was 3rd most absent in votes compared to House FreshmenBuck missed 8.4% of votes (59 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Buck’s Profile » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (86th percentile); House Freshmen (95th percentile); Safe House Seats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (94th 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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Got bicameral support on the 2nd fewest bills compared to Colorado Delegation (tied with 2 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 2258: To amend section 320301 of … Compare to all Colorado Delegation (14th percentile); House Freshmen (55th percentile); House Republicans (28th percentile); Safe House Seats (29th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Laws EnactedBuck 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 Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (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 Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Buck introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 4001: Fix the Footnotes Act of … Compare to all Colorado Delegation (29th percentile); House Freshmen (50th percentile); House Republicans (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsBuck 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 Buck’s Profile » Compare to all Colorado Delegation (29th percentile); House Freshmen (56th percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Buck supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Buck 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Buck cosponsored H.R. 4177: Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our … Compare to all Colorado Delegation (29th percentile); House Freshmen (42nd percentile); House Republicans (69th percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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.
