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Rep. Martha McSally’s 2016 Report Card

Representative from Arizona's 2nd District
Republican
Served Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2019

These statistics cover McSally’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare her to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.

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 McSally’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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Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to Arizona Delegation

McSally cosponsored 249 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 Arizona Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (50th percentile); House Republicans (58th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Was most present in votes compared to Arizona Delegation

McSally missed 0.0% of votes (0 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View McSally’s Profile »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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.
 

Got influential cosponsors the most often compared to House Freshmen (tied with 1 other)

13 of McSally’s bills and resolutions in the 114th 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.Res. 429: Congratulating Captain Kristen Griest and …; H.R. 1634: Border Security Technology Accountability Act …; H.R. 2200: CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing …; H.R. 2858: Humane Cosmetics Act; H.R. 3503: Department of Homeland Security Support …; H.R. 3583: PREPARE Act; H.R. 3722: Mental Health and Safe Communities …; H.R. 4336: An act to amend title …; H.R. 4404: Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel …; H.R. 4451: Border Security Health Initiative Act; H.R. 4482: Southwest Border Security Threat Assessment …; H.R. 5114: 21st Century Conservation Service Corps …; H.R. 6087: IDENT Fingerprint Digitization Completion Act …

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (67th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Republicans (96th percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 2nd most bills compared to House Freshmen

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 7 of McSally’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.Res. 429: Congratulating Captain Kristen Griest and …; H.R. 1588: Transnational Criminal Organization Illicit Spotter …; H.R. 1634: Border Security Technology Accountability Act …; H.R. 2835: Border Jobs for Veterans Act …; H.R. 2859: Sonoran Corridor Interstate Development Act …; H.R. 3590: Halt Tax Increases on the …; H.R. 3722: Mental Health and Safe Communities …

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

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

Got the 2nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Freshmen

McSally’s bills and resolutions had 673 cosponsors in the 114th 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 Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Republicans (89th percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

 

Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to House Freshmen

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 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from McSally’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Republicans (85th percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

 

Wrote the 3rd most laws compared to House Freshmen (tied with 1 other)

McSally introduced 3 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th 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. 2835: Border Jobs for Veterans Act …; H.R. 3722: Mental Health and Safe Communities …; H.R. 4336: An act to amend title …

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (89th percentile); House Freshmen (94th percentile); House Republicans (86th percentile); All Representatives (91st 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.
 

Introduced the 3rd most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 1 other)

McSally introduced 22 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (44th percentile); House Freshmen (94th percentile); House Republicans (74th percentile); All Representatives (72nd percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 3rd least often compared to Arizona Delegation (tied with 2 others)

GovTrack looked at whether McSally supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave McSally 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

McSally cosponsored H.R. 598: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act; H.R. 1615: DHS FOIA Efficiency Act of …

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (22nd percentile); House Freshmen (56th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); All Representatives (52nd percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 18th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 17 of McSally’s 22 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (78th percentile); House Freshmen (95th percentile); House Republicans (92nd percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 21st most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. McSally introduced 8 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1634: Border Security Technology Accountability Act …; H.R. 2200: CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing …; H.R. 3503: Department of Homeland Security Support …; H.R. 3583: PREPARE Act; H.R. 3590: Halt Tax Increases on the …; H.R. 4336: An act to amend title …; H.R. 4404: Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel …; H.R. 4482: Southwest Border Security Threat Assessment …

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (89th percentile); House Freshmen (94th percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); All Representatives (94th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 44th most often compared to House Republicans

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 249 bills that McSally cosponsored, 20% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); House Freshmen (58th percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile).

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

Committee Positions

McSally 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 McSally’s Profile »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); House Freshmen (56th percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Ideology Score

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 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from McSally’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (44th percentile); House Freshmen (53rd percentile); House Republicans (28th percentile); All Representatives (59th 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 114th Congress) 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.