skip to main content
Hide All The Ads With a Yearly Membership Subscribe ▶

Rep. Lacy Clay’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Missouri's 1st District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2001 – Jan 3, 2021

These year-end statistics cover Clay’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 Clay’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.

Jump to...

 

Got bicameral support on the most bills compared to Missouri Delegation

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Clay’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. 2908: National Bison Legacy Act; H.R. 4099: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Examination …; H.R. 4100: To require the Secretary of …

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (71st percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 2nd most often compared to Missouri Delegation

3 of Clay’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. 2347: Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments …; H.R. 2473: Preserving Capital Access and Mortgage …; H.R. 3683: African American Civil Rights Network …

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 8th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Clay supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Clay 6 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Clay sponsored H.R. 2347: Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments …

Clay cosponsored H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 2173: Redistricting Reform Act of 2015; H.R. 3838: Fairness in Incarcerated Representation Act

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); Safe House Seats (97th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 39th fewest bills compared to House Democrats

Clay cosponsored 158 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 Missouri Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43rd percentile); House Democrats (20th percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 45th least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 158 bills that Clay cosponsored, 23% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (58th percentile); House Democrats (23rd percentile); Safe House Seats (64th 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.
 

Laws Enacted

Clay 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 Missouri Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (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.
 

Bills Introduced

Clay introduced 9 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Democrats (35th percentile); Safe House Seats (39th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Clay introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 2347: Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments …

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Clay 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 Clay’s Profile »

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Clay’s bills and resolutions had 100 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 Missouri Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); House Democrats (41st percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Clay missed 3.1% of votes (22 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Clay’s Profile »

Compare to all Missouri Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (62nd percentile); Safe House Seats (69th percentile); All Representatives (71st 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 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.