Tonko is the representative for New York’s 20th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Tonko is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
He was previously the representative for New York’s 21st congressional district as a Democrat from 2009 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Paul Tonko [D-NY20]](/static/legislator-photos/412319-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Tonko.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Tonko is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Tonko has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Mar 2, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Tonko was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 583 (116th): Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act
- H.R. 6870 (115th): To rename the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 in honor of Representative Louise McIntosh Slaughter.
- H.R. 4005 (115th): Medicaid Reentry Act
- H.R. 6414 (114th): Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act of 2016
- H.R. 4425 (111th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2-116th Street in North Troy, New York, as the “Martin G. ‘Marty’ Mahar Post Office”.
Does 5 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Tonko sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (27%) Science, Technology, Communications (20%) Energy (17%) Environmental Protection (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (7%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%) Water Resources Development (5%) Crime and Law Enforcement (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Tonko’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 1384: To amend section 303(g) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 823(g)) to ...
- H.R. 1316: To authorize a National Heritage Area Program, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 1184: To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve the treatment ...
- H.R. 955: To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to allow States to ...
- H.R. 849: Scientific Integrity Act
- H.R. 8699 (116th): Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission Reauthorization Act
- H.R. 8390 (116th): To require the Director of the National Science Foundation to establish a ...
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2009 to Mar 2021, Tonko missed 52 of 8,011 roll call votes, which is 0.6%. This is better than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
