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

Rep. Liz Cheney’s 2020 Report Card

House Republican Conference Chair
Representative from Wyoming's At-Large District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2023

These statistics cover Cheney’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare her 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 Cheney was busy being House Republican Conference Chair, 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 Cheney’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 their bills out of committee the most often compared to House Republicans

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cheney introduced 17 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 8: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 25: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 32: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 68: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 74: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 80: Ranking certain Members of certain …; H.Res. 103: Electing Members to a certain …; H.Res. 113: Electing Members to a certain …; H.Res. 264: Electing Members to a certain …; H.Res. 481: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 516: Electing a Member to a …; H.Res. 801: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 903: Ranking a Member of a …; H.Res. 1037: Electing Members to certain standing …; H.Res. 1058: Electing a Member to certain …; H.Res. 1072: Electing certain Members to certain …; H.R. 8847: To designate the facility of …

Compare to all House Party Leaders (67th percentile); House Sophomores (98th percentile); House Republicans (99th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).

 

Ranked most politically right compared to House Party Leaders

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 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cheney’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Party Leaders (89th percentile); House Sophomores (62nd percentile); House Republicans (42nd percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 3rd fewest bills compared to House Party Leaders

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 1 of Cheney’s 33 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Cheney caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all House Party Leaders (22nd percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (5th percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile).

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

Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House Party Leaders (tied with 2 others)

Cheney’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); House Sophomores (42nd percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 5th fewest bills compared to House Sophomores

Cheney cosponsored 151 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 (67th percentile); House Sophomores (7th percentile); House Republicans (20th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 11th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 4 others)

6 of Cheney’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. 998: State Mineral Revenue Protection Act …; H.R. 1650: Ending Duplicative Permitting Act; H.R. 2707: New START Treaty Improvement Act …; H.R. 4692: Countering Turkish Aggression Act of …; H.R. 5705: Increasing Access and Multiple Use …; H.R. 8256: Recognition of Local Interests in …

Compare to all House Party Leaders (67th percentile); House Sophomores (80th percentile); House Republicans (92nd percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

 

Introduced the 17th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 1 other)

Cheney introduced 33 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (67th percentile); House Sophomores (75th percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (77th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 24th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 8 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 of Cheney’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. 564: To designate the mountain at …; H.R. 1445: Grizzly Bear State Management Act …; H.R. 2707: New START Treaty Improvement Act …; H.R. 5086: To terminate certain waivers of …; H.R. 6740: To designate the area between …

Compare to all House Party Leaders (67th percentile); House Sophomores (60th percentile); House Republicans (84th percentile); All Representatives (64th percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 31st least often compared to House Republicans

Of the 151 bills that Cheney cosponsored, 26% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (78th percentile); House Sophomores (52nd percentile); House Republicans (15th percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

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

Was 83rd most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

Cheney missed 5.0% of votes (48 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Cheney’s Profile »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (78th percentile); House Sophomores (73rd percentile); All Representatives (81st 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

Cheney 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. 8847: To designate the facility of …

Compare to all House Party Leaders (22nd percentile); House Sophomores (35th 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.
 

Committee Positions

Cheney 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 Cheney’s Profile »

Compare to all House Party Leaders (0th percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Leadership Score

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 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cheney’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all House Party Leaders (44th percentile); House Sophomores (45th percentile); House Republicans (71st 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 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.