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Rep. Ken Buck’s 2019 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 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 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 Delegation

Buck introduced 6 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (28th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to Colorado Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 2 of Buck’s 6 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Buck caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (23rd percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to Colorado Delegation

Buck cosponsored 105 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 Republicans (24th percentile); All Representatives (12th percentile).

 

Got the fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Colorado Delegation

Buck’s bills and resolutions had 19 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 Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (18th percentile); All Representatives (9th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the least often compared to Colorado Delegation (tied with 1 other)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Buck introduced 1 bill in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1330: Amache Study Act

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (41st percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 2nd least often compared to Colorado Delegation (tied with 2 others)

2 of Buck’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. 2299: Multilateral Aid Review Act of …; H.R. 5345: Innocent Party Protection Act

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (14th percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 17th least often compared to House Republicans

Of the 105 bills that Buck cosponsored, 26% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (57th percentile); House Republicans (8th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile).

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

Was 19th most absent in votes compared to All Representatives

Buck missed 13.8% of votes (97 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Buck’s Profile »

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (86th percentile); All Representatives (96th 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.
 

Laws Enacted

Buck 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. 1330: Amache Study Act

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (43rd percentile); House Republicans (69th 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.
 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Buck’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. 1330: Amache Study Act

Compare to all Colorado Delegation (29th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Buck 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 (14th percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); All Representatives (42nd 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 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.