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Rep. Nita Lowey’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from New York's 17th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2021

These year-end statistics cover Lowey’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare her to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

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 Lowey’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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Wrote the most laws compared to All Representatives

Lowey introduced 7 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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. 268: Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019; H.R. 648: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019; H.R. 2157: Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster …; H.R. 2839: Department of State, Foreign Operations, …; H.R. 3401: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian …; H.R. 4378: Continuing Appropriations Act, 2020, and …; H.J.Res. 28: Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, …

Compare to all New York Delegation (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); House Democrats (100th percentile); All Representatives (100th 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.
 

Held the most committee positions compared to New York Delegation

Lowey held a leadership position on 1 committee and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Lowey’s Profile »

Compare to all New York Delegation (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 5th most often compared to All Representatives

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Lowey introduced 13 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 21: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019; H.R. 268: Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019; H.R. 648: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019; H.R. 2157: Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster …; H.R. 2839: Department of State, Foreign Operations, …; H.R. 3401: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian …; H.R. 4378: Continuing Appropriations Act, 2020, and …; H.Con.Res. 75: Directing the Clerk of the …; H.Con.Res. 81: Directing the Clerk of the …; H.Con.Res. 82: Directing the Clerk of the …; H.J.Res. 1: Making further continuing appropriations for …; H.J.Res. 27: Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, …; H.J.Res. 28: Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, …

Compare to all New York Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 5th fewest bills compared to New York Delegation

Lowey cosponsored 241 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 New York Delegation (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (44th percentile); House Democrats (20th percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 5th fewest bills compared to New York Delegation (tied with 1 other)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 6 of Lowey’s 28 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Lowey caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all New York Delegation (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (40th percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile).

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

Got influential cosponsors the 5th least often compared to New York Delegation (tied with 4 others)

2 of Lowey’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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.Res. 540: Recognizing the 50th anniversary of …; H.R. 1055: Global Health, Empowerment and Rights …

Compare to all New York Delegation (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Democrats (21st percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Introduced the 44th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 8 others)

Lowey introduced 28 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all New York Delegation (73rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (81st percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Ranked the 54th top leader compared to All Representatives

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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Lowey’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New York Delegation (65th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Got the 64th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

Lowey’s bills and resolutions had 516 cosponsors in 2019. 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 New York Delegation (65th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); House Democrats (73rd percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile).

 

Ranked 102nd most politically left compared to All Representatives

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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Lowey’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New York Delegation (46th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Democrats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 102nd least often compared to All Representatives

Of the 241 bills that Lowey cosponsored, 8% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all New York Delegation (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); House Democrats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile).

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

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Lowey’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.Res. 277: Affirming the importance of access …; H.R. 1055: Global Health, Empowerment and Rights …; H.R. 3104: Partnership Fund for Peace Act …

Compare to all New York Delegation (46th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); House Democrats (50th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

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

Missed Votes

Lowey missed 2.3% of votes (16 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Lowey’s Profile »

Compare to all New York Delegation (69th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); All Representatives (59th 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 2019) 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.