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Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2015 Report Card

Speaker of the House
Representative from Wisconsin's 1st District
Republican
Served Jan 6, 1999 – Jan 3, 2019

These year-end statistics cover Ryan’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him 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 Ryan was busy being Speaker of the House, 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 Ryan’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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Held the most committee positions compared to Wisconsin Delegation

Ryan held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 subcommittees, 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 Ryan’s Profile »

Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); House Republicans (87th percentile); Safe House Seats (87th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 3rd fewest bills compared to All Representatives

Ryan cosponsored 34 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 Wisconsin Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (1st percentile); Safe House Seats (1st percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Introduced the 3rd fewest bills compared to Wisconsin Delegation

Ryan introduced 9 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (25th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (26th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (39th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 3rd least often compared to Wisconsin Delegation (tied with 2 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Ryan supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Ryan 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Ryan cosponsored H.R. 598: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (25th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (51st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (41st percentile); House Republicans (69th percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 5th most bills compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (tied with 2 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 4 of Ryan’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. 1831: Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act of …; H.R. 1890: Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and …; H.R. 1891: To extend the African Growth …; H.R. 2688: To block any action from …

Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (75th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (87th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); House Republicans (85th percentile); Safe House Seats (84th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile).

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

Got the 6th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Ryan’s bills and resolutions had 38 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 Wisconsin Delegation (25th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (9th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); House Republicans (21st percentile); Safe House Seats (17th percentile); All Representatives (18th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 16th least often compared to All Representatives

Of the 34 bills that Ryan cosponsored, 3% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (13th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (6th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); House Republicans (6th percentile); Safe House Seats (4th percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile).

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

Got their bills out of committee the 34th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 16 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Ryan introduced 3 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1831: Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act of …; H.R. 1890: Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and …; H.R. 1891: To extend the African Growth …

Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (75th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); Safe House Seats (88th percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Ryan 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 Wisconsin Delegation (0th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (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.
 

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Ryan’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.

Those bills were: H.R. 1890: Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and …; H.R. 1891: To extend the African Growth …; H.R. 3038: Highway and Transportation Funding Act …

Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (50th percentile); House Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd 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.