Rep. Paul Tonko’s 2019 Report Card
Representative
from New York's 20th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Tonko’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him 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 Tonko’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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Ranked the 14th top leader compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 Tonko’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New York Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (92nd percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 14th most bills compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 19 of Tonko’s 21 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Tonko caucused with in 2019. Compare to all New York Delegation (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); House Democrats (96th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Got the 16th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesTonko’s bills and resolutions had 1,102 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 (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (90th percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile). |
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Was 31st most present in votes compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 8 others)Tonko missed 0.9% of votes (6 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Tonko’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (35th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); All Representatives (31st 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. |
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Got influential cosponsors the 32nd most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 12 others)7 of Tonko’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.R. 1049: National Heritage Area Act of …; H.R. 1709: Scientific Integrity Act; H.R. 1754: Horseracing Integrity Act of 2019; H.R. 2041: Weatherization Enhancement and Local Energy …; H.R. 2482: Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of …; H.R. 4708: SAFE Limos Act; H.R. 4709: Take Unsafe Limos Off the … Compare to all New York Delegation (69th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); House Democrats (83rd percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 31st most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 27 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Tonko introduced 5 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 583: PIRATE Act; H.R. 1328: ACCESS BROADBAND Act; H.R. 1709: Scientific Integrity Act; H.R. 2041: Weatherization Enhancement and Local Energy …; H.R. 3609: Wind Energy Research and Development … Compare to all New York Delegation (65th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 59th most bills compared to All RepresentativesTonko cosponsored 424 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 (73rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); House Democrats (75th percentile); All Representatives (86th percentile). |
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Introduced the 88th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 7 others)Tonko introduced 21 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (46th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (67th percentile); House Democrats (68th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Ranked 99th most politically left compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 Tonko’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New York Delegation (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Democrats (42nd percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile). |
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Laws EnactedTonko introduced 0 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. Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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. |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 1873: Improving HOPE for Alzheimer’s; H.R. 4708: SAFE Limos Act; H.R. 5263: Stopping Grinch Bots Act of … 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. |
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Committee PositionsTonko 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 Tonko’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 424 bills that Tonko cosponsored, 11% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (54th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (59th percentile); All Representatives (32nd percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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.
