Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s 2015 Report Card
House Minority Leader
Representative
from California's 12th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2023
These year-end statistics cover Pelosi’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.
Members of Congress with party leadership roles often do not participate in the legislative process in the same way as other Members of Congress. Since Pelosi was busy being House Minority Leader, the metrics of legislative activity listed below may not apply.
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 Pelosi’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 fewest bills compared to House DemocratsPelosi cosponsored 41 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 California Delegation (2nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (1st percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (1st percentile); All Representatives (1st percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to House DemocratsOf the 41 bills that Pelosi cosponsored, 5% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (8th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (13th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Got the fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 1 other)Pelosi’s bills and resolutions had 0 cosponsors in 2015. 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 California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Introduced the 9th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 3 others)Pelosi introduced 3 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all California Delegation (6th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); House Democrats (4th percentile); Safe House Seats (4th percentile); All Representatives (5th percentile). |
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Was 50th most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Pelosi missed 6.4% of votes (45 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Pelosi’s Profile » Compare to all California Delegation (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); Safe House Seats (87th percentile); All Representatives (88th 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. |
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Laws EnactedPelosi introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Pelosi introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors0 of Pelosi’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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. Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 355: Raising a question of the … Compare to all California Delegation (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); Safe House Seats (29th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsPelosi 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 Pelosi’s Profile » Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Pelosi supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Pelosi 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Pelosi cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 2173: Redistricting Reform Act of 2015 Compare to all California Delegation (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (81st percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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 2015) 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.
