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Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick’s 2013 Report Card

Representative from Pennsylvania's 8th District
Republican
Served Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2017

These year-end statistics cover Fitzpatrick’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.

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 Fitzpatrick’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 3rd most bills compared to Pennsylvania Delegation

Fitzpatrick cosponsored 184 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 (83rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (56th percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile).

 

Got the 4th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Competitive House Seats

Fitzpatrick’s bills and resolutions had 315 cosponsors in 2013. 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 (78th percentile); Competitive House Seats (91st percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile).

 

Ranked the 5th top leader compared to Competitive House Seats

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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Fitzpatrick’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (78th percentile); Competitive House Seats (88th percentile); House Republicans (79th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 6th 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 184 bills that Fitzpatrick cosponsored, 30% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (83rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (42nd percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile).

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

Got bicameral support on the 6th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 3 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 of Fitzpatrick’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. 1775: Saracini Aviation Safety Act of …; H.R. 2222: To prohibit performance awards in …; H.R. 2360: To reauthorize the Rivers of …; H.R. 2538: Credit Access and Inclusion Act; H.R. 2856: Captive Primate Safety Act

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); Competitive House Seats (95th percentile); House Republicans (96th percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 5th least often compared to Pennsylvania Delegation (tied with 5 others)

1 of Fitzpatrick’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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. 54: To provide that no pay …

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (22nd percentile); Competitive House Seats (33rd percentile); House Republicans (31st percentile); All Representatives (31st percentile).

 

Introduced the 11th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)

Fitzpatrick introduced 26 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (94th percentile); Competitive House Seats (95th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Ranked 15th most politically left compared to House Republicans

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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Fitzpatrick’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (33rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (58th percentile); House Republicans (6th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Fitzpatrick introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. 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); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Fitzpatrick introduced 0 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Fitzpatrick tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 50% of Fitzpatrick’s 26 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (50th percentile); House Republicans (63rd percentile); All Representatives (73rd percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Fitzpatrick 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 Fitzpatrick’s Profile »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Fitzpatrick missed 1.1% of votes (7 of 641 votes) in 2013. View Fitzpatrick’s Profile »

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (39th percentile); Competitive House Seats (40th percentile); All Representatives (29th 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 Fitzpatrick supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Fitzpatrick 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Pennsylvania Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.