![Photo of Rep. Paul Tonko [D-NY20]](/static/legislator-photos/412319-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 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 liberal–conservative 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 6, 2015 to Oct 8, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Paul Tonko sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Energy and Commerce
- Chair, Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change
- Member, Subcommittee on Energy
- Member, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
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House Committee on Natural Resources
- Member, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands
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House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
- Member, Subcommittee on Environment
- Member, Subcommittee on Research and Technology
Enacted Legislation
Tonko was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- 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: 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 4 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 (26%) Energy (23%) Science, Technology, Communications (17%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%) Environmental Protection (6%) Water Resources Development (6%) Crime and Law Enforcement (6%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Tonko’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 4629: Star Rating for Biosimilars Act
- H.R. 3925: Reducing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment Act
- H.R. 3609: Wind Energy Research and Development Act of 2019
- H.R. 2659: To establish a research, development, and technology demonstration program to improve the efficiency ...
- H.R. 2482: Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of 2019
- H.R. 2288: Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Reauthorization Act
- H.R. 2041: Weatherization Enhancement and Local Energy Efficiency Investment and Accountability Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2009 to Sep 2019, Tonko missed 47 of 7,550 roll call votes, which is 0.6%. This is better than the median of 2.1% 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
