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Rep. Matthew “Matt” Cartwright’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from Pennsylvania's 8th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Cartwright’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.

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 Cartwright’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 influential cosponsors the most often compared to Pennsylvania Delegation

11 of Cartwright’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. 1243: Climate Change Health Protection and …; H.R. 2156: Revitalizing the Economy of Coal …; H.R. 2748: SAFE Act; H.R. 3463: Public Service Freedom to Negotiate …; H.R. 4006: Closing Loopholes and Ending Arbitrary …; H.R. 4007: FRESHER Act of 2019; H.R. 4248: Surface Mining Control and Reclamation …; H.R. 4435: Coal Cleanup Taxpayer Protection Act …; H.R. 5505: Consortia-Led Energy and Advanced Manufacturing …; H.R. 7700: COVID–19 Mine Worker Protection Act; H.R. 7827: Clean Energy Innovation Funding Act …

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); House Democrats (82nd percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the most bills compared to Pennsylvania Delegation

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 8 of Cartwright’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. 2487: Wounded Warrior Workforce Enhancement Act; H.R. 5399: Locality Pay Equity Act of …; H.R. 6024: Native Plant Species Pilot Program …; H.R. 6064: NIST Plumbing Research Act of …; H.R. 6962: Rural Hospital Sustainability Act; H.R. 7239: Pennsylvania National Heritage Areas Act; H.R. 7446: Job Creation through Energy Efficient …; H.R. 7621: Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); House Democrats (73rd percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

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

Got the most cosponsors on their bills compared to Pennsylvania Delegation

Cartwright’s bills and resolutions had 1,092 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 Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); House Democrats (88th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile).

 

Ranked the top leader compared to Pennsylvania Delegation

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 Cartwright’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); House Democrats (84th percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 4th most often compared to Pennsylvania Delegation

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cartwright introduced 5 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 762: Streamlining Energy Efficiency for Schools …; H.R. 2156: Revitalizing the Economy of Coal …; H.R. 2748: SAFE Act; H.R. 4248: Surface Mining Control and Reclamation …; H.R. 4347: PREPARE Act of 2019

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (78th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

 

Introduced the 9th most bills compared to All Representatives

Cartwright introduced 63 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 10th most bills compared to All Representatives

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 32 of Cartwright’s 63 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Cartwright caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 28th most often compared to House Democrats

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 533 bills that Cartwright cosponsored, 16% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (39th percentile); House Democrats (88th percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile).

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

Ranked 58th most politically right compared to House Democrats

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 Cartwright’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (33rd percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Cartwright introduced 0 bills 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.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (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.
 

Committee Positions

Cartwright 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 Cartwright’s Profile »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (61st percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Cartwright cosponsored 533 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 Pennsylvania Delegation (67th percentile); House Democrats (54th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Cartwright missed 4.1% of votes (39 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Cartwright’s Profile »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (72nd percentile); All Representatives (74th 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.