Rep. Peter Roskam’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from Illinois's 6th District
Republican
Served Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2019
These year-end statistics cover Roskam’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.
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 Roskam’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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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Illinois DelegationOf the 142 bills that Roskam cosponsored, 8% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (6th percentile); House Republicans (42nd percentile); Safe House Seats (26th percentile); All Representatives (24th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2nd highest % of bills compared to Illinois DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 47% of Roskam’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Illinois Delegation (78th percentile); House Republicans (56th percentile); Safe House Seats (72nd percentile); All Representatives (70th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Got their bills out of committee the 2nd most often compared to Illinois Delegation (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Roskam introduced 2 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 1058: Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act …; H.R. 1104: Fair Treatment for All Gifts … Compare to all Illinois Delegation (83rd percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (77th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Ranked 3rd most politically right compared to Illinois DelegationOur 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Roskam’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Illinois Delegation (83rd percentile); House Republicans (48th percentile); Safe House Seats (70th percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile). |
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Introduced the 4th most bills compared to Illinois DelegationRoskam introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (78th percentile); House Republicans (77th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 4th fewest bills compared to Illinois DelegationRoskam cosponsored 142 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 Illinois Delegation (17th percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); Safe House Seats (33rd percentile); All Representatives (33rd percentile). |
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Ranked the 7th 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Roskam’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Illinois Delegation (94th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); Safe House Seats (98th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). |
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Got the 16th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesRoskam’s bills and resolutions had 656 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 Illinois Delegation (94th percentile); House Republicans (96th percentile); Safe House Seats (96th percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile). |
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Was 36th most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Roskam missed 7.4% of votes (52 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Roskam’s Profile » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (72nd percentile); Safe House Seats (91st percentile); All Representatives (91st 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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Laws EnactedRoskam 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 Illinois Delegation (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. |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Roskam’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. 825: United States-Israel Trade and Commercial …; H.R. 1019: Partner with Korea Act; H.R. 2400: SIGMA Act of 2015 Compare to all Illinois Delegation (56th percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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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. 2400: SIGMA Act of 2015; H.Con.Res. 100: Expressing the sense of the … Compare to all Illinois Delegation (56th percentile); House Republicans (55th percentile); Safe House Seats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsRoskam 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 Roskam’s Profile » Compare to all Illinois Delegation (50th percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Roskam supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Roskam 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Roskam cosponsored H.R. 598: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act Compare to all Illinois Delegation (28th percentile); House Republicans (69th percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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.
