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Rep. Martha Roby’s 2016 Report Card

Representative from Alabama's 2nd District
Republican
Served Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2021

These statistics cover Roby’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 Roby’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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 16th fewest bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 15 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 1 of Roby’s 8 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (29th percentile); House Republicans (6th percentile); All Representatives (5th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 29th fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Roby cosponsored 132 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 Alabama Delegation (14th percentile); House Republicans (9th percentile); All Representatives (6th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 75th least often compared to All Representatives

Of the 132 bills that Roby cosponsored, 8% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (43rd percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (17th percentile).

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

Introduced the 72nd fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 13 others)

Roby introduced 8 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (43rd percentile); House Republicans (19th percentile); All Representatives (16th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 61st least often compared to All Representatives (tied with 57 others)

1 of Roby’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.R. 465: Working Families Flexibility Act of …

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (29th percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Roby introduced 0 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.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Roby introduced 0 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 0 of Roby’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.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Roby 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 Roby’s Profile »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Roby’s bills and resolutions had 162 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 Alabama Delegation (43rd percentile); House Republicans (41st percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Roby missed 2.6% of votes (35 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Roby’s Profile »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (57th percentile); All Representatives (54th 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.
 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Roby supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Roby 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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.