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Rep. Michael Waltz’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from Florida's 6th District
Republican
Serving Jan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2025


These statistics cover Waltz’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 Waltz’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.

 

Introduced the 6th fewest bills compared to Florida Delegation (tied with 2 others)

Waltz introduced 13 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (19th percentile); House Freshmen (26th percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); All Representatives (24th percentile).


 

Got their bills out of committee the 5th least often compared to Florida Delegation (tied with 4 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Waltz introduced 1 bill in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 2204: Venezuelan Contracting Restriction Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (15th percentile); House Freshmen (14th percentile); House Republicans (29th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile).


 

Cosponsored the 7th fewest bills compared to Florida Delegation

Waltz cosponsored 272 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 Florida Delegation (22nd percentile); House Freshmen (31st percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (35th percentile).


 

Joined bipartisan bills the 8th most often compared to House Freshmen

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 272 bills that Waltz cosponsored, 45% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (74th percentile); House Freshmen (92nd percentile); House Republicans (58th percentile); All Representatives (81st percentile).

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


 

Was 8th most absent in votes compared to House Freshmen

Waltz missed 6.2% of votes (59 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Waltz’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (70th percentile); House Freshmen (92nd percentile); All Representatives (85th 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.


 

Ranked 12th most politically right compared to House Freshmen

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 Waltz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (70th percentile); House Freshmen (88th percentile); House Republicans (72nd percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile).


 

Got bicameral support on the 13th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 10 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 6 of Waltz’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. 2204: Venezuelan Contracting Restriction Act; H.R. 5605: United States-Israel PTSD Collaborative Research …; H.R. 5628: Clean Water Allotment Modernization Act; H.R. 6392: Secure United States Bases Act; H.R. 6393: Strengthening America’s Supply Chain and …; H.R. 6614: TSP Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (74th percentile); House Freshmen (76th percentile); House Republicans (88th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile).

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


 

Got the 35th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Republicans

Waltz’s bills and resolutions had 328 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 Florida Delegation (67th percentile); House Freshmen (73rd percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).


 

Ranked the 39th top leader compared to House Republicans

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 Waltz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (59th percentile); House Freshmen (67th percentile); House Republicans (80th percentile); All Representatives (52nd percentile).


 

Laws Enacted

Waltz introduced 1 bill 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 2204: Venezuelan Contracting Restriction Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (48th percentile); House Freshmen (41st percentile); House Republicans (51st percentile); All Representatives (37th 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.


 

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Waltz’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. 1911: SFC Brian Woods Gold Star …; H.R. 5605: United States-Israel PTSD Collaborative Research …; H.R. 7061: American Critical Mineral Exploration and …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (37th percentile); House Freshmen (43rd percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (37th percentile).


 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 9 of Waltz’s 13 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Waltz caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (41st percentile); House Freshmen (53rd percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (48th percentile).

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


 

Committee Positions

Waltz 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 Waltz’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (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 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.