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Rep. Paul Cook’s 2017 Report Card

Representative from California's 8th District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Dec 7, 2020

These year-end statistics cover Cook’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.

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 Cook’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 3rd most laws compared to California Delegation (tied with 2 others)

Cook introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. 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. 244: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017

Compare to all California Delegation (91st percentile); House Republicans (73rd percentile); All Representatives (79th 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 their bills out of committee the 4th most often compared to California Delegation (tied with 2 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cook introduced 4 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 244: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017; H.R. 497: Santa Ana River Wash Plan …; H.R. 1399: American Soda Ash Competitiveness Act; H.R. 3279: Helium Extraction Act of 2017

Compare to all California Delegation (89th percentile); House Republicans (72nd percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile).

 

Ranked 5th most politically right compared to California Delegation

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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Cook’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (91st percentile); House Republicans (48th percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 6th most bills compared to California Delegation (tied with 4 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Cook’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. 497: Santa Ana River Wash Plan …; H.R. 1399: American Soda Ash Competitiveness Act; H.R. 3279: Helium Extraction Act of 2017

Compare to all California Delegation (81st percentile); House Republicans (76th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

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

Was 16th most present in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 13 others)

Cook missed 0.1% of votes (1 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Cook’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); All Representatives (3rd 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.
 

Joined bipartisan bills the 32nd 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 193 bills that Cook cosponsored, 23% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (43rd percentile); House Republicans (87th percentile); All Representatives (59th percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 43rd most bills compared to House Republicans

Cook cosponsored 193 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 (36th percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 66th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 18 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 8 of Cook’s 13 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all California Delegation (79th percentile); House Republicans (76th percentile); All Representatives (81st percentile).

 

Bills Introduced

Cook introduced 13 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (53rd percentile); House Republicans (59th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of Cook’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 245: Veterans’ Education Equity Act; H.R. 1399: American Soda Ash Competitiveness Act

Compare to all California Delegation (34th percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Cook 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 Cook’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (42nd percentile); House Republicans (37th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Cook’s bills and resolutions had 132 cosponsors in 2017. 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 (34th percentile); House Republicans (54th percentile); All Representatives (48th 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cook’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (45th percentile); House Republicans (42nd percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Cook supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Cook 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all California Delegation (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 2017) 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.