Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s 2020 Report Card
House Minority Leader
Representative
from California's 23rd District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2023
These statistics cover McCarthy’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.
Members of Congress with party leadership roles often do not participate in the legislative process in the same way as other Members of Congress. Since McCarthy was busy being House Minority Leader, the metrics of legislative activity listed below may not apply.
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 McCarthy’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.
|
|
Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to House RepublicansOur 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 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from McCarthy’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all House Party Leaders (56th percentile); California Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); House Republicans (1st percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile). |
|
|
Joined bipartisan bills the 3rd most often compared to California DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 34 bills that McCarthy cosponsored, 44% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all House Party Leaders (89th percentile); California Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); House Republicans (55th percentile); All Representatives (80th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
|
|
Cosponsored the 4th fewest bills compared to All RepresentativesMcCarthy cosponsored 34 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 House Party Leaders (11th percentile); California Delegation (2nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (1st percentile); House Republicans (1st percentile); All Representatives (1st percentile). |
|
|
Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 5th fewest bills compared to California Delegation (tied with 2 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 4 of McCarthy’s 18 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party McCarthy caucused with in the 116th Congress. Compare to all House Party Leaders (44th percentile); California Delegation (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (18th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (17th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
|
|
Got their bills out of committee the 9th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 3 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. McCarthy introduced 6 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.Res. 9: Providing for the designation of …; H.Res. 590: Raising a question of the …; H.Res. 603: Raising a question of the …; H.Res. 770: Disapproving the manner in which …; H.R. 2695: To rename the Success Dam …; H.R. 5766: VET TEC Expansion Act Compare to all House Party Leaders (56th percentile); California Delegation (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile). |
|
|
Got the 12th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to California DelegationMcCarthy’s bills and resolutions had 225 cosponsors in the 116th 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 House Party Leaders (22nd percentile); California Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile). |
|
|
Ranked the 12th bottom/follower compared to California DelegationOur 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 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from McCarthy’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all House Party Leaders (33rd percentile); California Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (40th percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile). |
|
|
Introduced the 14th fewest bills compared to California DelegationMcCarthy introduced 18 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all House Party Leaders (33rd percentile); California Delegation (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (41st percentile); House Republicans (66th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile). |
|
|
Got influential cosponsors the 16th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 15 others)5 of McCarthy’s bills and resolutions in the 116th 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. 12: CTF Act; H.R. 1600: RAILWAY Act; H.R. 7646: Protect America’s Statues Act of …; H.R. 7708: Defend COVID Research from Hackers …; H.R. 8275: Reducing Veteran Homelessness Act of … Compare to all House Party Leaders (44th percentile); California Delegation (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (51st percentile); House Republicans (84th percentile); All Representatives (61st percentile). |
|
|
Laws EnactedMcCarthy introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th 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. 2695: To rename the Success Dam … Compare to all House Party Leaders (22nd percentile); California Delegation (27th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); House Republicans (51st percentile); All Representatives (37th 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 SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 590: Raising a question of the …; H.Res. 603: Raising a question of the …; H.R. 2858: FORWARD Act of 2019; H.Con.Res. 6: Providing for a joint session … Compare to all House Party Leaders (33rd percentile); California Delegation (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Republicans (73rd percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
|
|
Committee PositionsMcCarthy held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View McCarthy’s Profile » Compare to all House Party Leaders (0th percentile); California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
|
|
Missed VotesMcCarthy missed 2.7% of votes (26 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View McCarthy’s Profile » Compare to all House Party Leaders (67th percentile); California Delegation (73rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Representatives (58th 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. |
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 116th Congress) 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.
