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Rep. Michael Burgess’s 2018 Report Card

Representative from Texas's 26th District
Republican
Serving Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Burgess’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.

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 Burgess’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 their bills out of committee the 4th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Burgess introduced 25 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 123: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 230: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 382: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 451: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 533: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 600: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 601: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 787: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 905: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 923: Providing for further consideration of …; H.Res. 949: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 952: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 954: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 1011: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 1012: Providing for consideration of the …; H.R. 315: Improving Access to Maternity Care …; H.R. 880: MISSION ZERO Act; H.R. 3120: To amend title XVIII of …; H.R. 3263: Independence at Home Demonstration Improvement …; H.R. 3728: EMPOWER Act of 2018; H.R. 3921: HEALTHY KIDS Act; H.R. 4987: To amend title XVIII of …; H.R. 5806: 21st Century Tools for Pain …; H.R. 6314: Health Savings Act of 2018; H.Con.Res. 23: Providing for a joint session …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); House Republicans (98th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile).

 

Introduced the 5th most bills compared to House Republicans

Burgess introduced 48 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); House Republicans (98th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 18th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 7 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 6 of Burgess’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. 118: Health and Human Services Hiree …; H.R. 315: Improving Access to Maternity Care …; H.R. 880: MISSION ZERO Act; H.R. 1011: Health and Human Services Hiree …; H.R. 2953: To amend the Congressional Budget …; H.R. 6050: Increasing Access to Care Act

Compare to all Texas Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); House Republicans (89th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile).

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

Wrote the 23rd most laws compared to All Representatives (tied with 13 others)

Burgess introduced 4 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th 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. 315: Improving Access to Maternity Care …; H.R. 3921: HEALTHY KIDS Act; H.R. 4987: To amend title XVIII of …; H.R. 5806: 21st Century Tools for Pain …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); House Republicans (87th percentile); All Representatives (92nd 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.
 

Got influential cosponsors the 24th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 11 others)

7 of Burgess’s bills and resolutions in the 115th 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. 880: MISSION ZERO Act; H.R. 938: Medicaid Third Party Liability Act; H.R. 1040: Flat Tax Act; H.R. 3263: Independence at Home Demonstration Improvement …; H.R. 3728: EMPOWER Act of 2018; H.R. 4987: To amend title XVIII of …; H.R. 5806: 21st Century Tools for Pain …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Republicans (85th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 39th fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ Years

Burgess cosponsored 173 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 Texas Delegation (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); House Republicans (36th percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile).

 

Ranked 39th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Burgess’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Republicans (42nd percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 48th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years

Of the 173 bills that Burgess cosponsored, 15% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (25th percentile); House Republicans (58th percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile).

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

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 9 of Burgess’s 48 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Burgess caucused with in the 115th Congress.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (69th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); House Republicans (55th percentile); All Representatives (58th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Burgess 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 Burgess’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Republicans (37th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Burgess’s bills and resolutions had 177 cosponsors in the 115th 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 Texas Delegation (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (35th percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); All Representatives (39th 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 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Burgess’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (47th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); House Republicans (46th percentile); All Representatives (52nd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Burgess missed 1.9% of votes (23 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Burgess’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (29th percentile); All Representatives (36th 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 Burgess supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Burgess 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Burgess cosponsored H.R. 24: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of …; H.R. 4396: ME TOO Congress Act; H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (68th 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 115th Congress) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.