Rep. Peter Visclosky’s 2017 Report Card
Representative
from Indiana's 1st District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 1985 – Jan 3, 2021
These year-end statistics cover Visclosky’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.
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 Visclosky’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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Introduced the fewest bills compared to Indiana DelegationVisclosky introduced 1 bill and resolution in 2017. View Bills » Compare to all Indiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to Indiana DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 1 of Visclosky’s 1 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017. Compare to all Indiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); House Democrats (8th percentile); All Representatives (6th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the most often compared to Indiana DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 104 bills that Visclosky cosponsored, 37% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Indiana Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); House Democrats (75th percentile); All Representatives (88th 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 the fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Indiana DelegationVisclosky’s bills and resolutions had 9 cosponsors in 2017. 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 Indiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (2nd percentile); House Democrats (3rd percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile). |
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Was most absent in votes compared to Indiana DelegationVisclosky missed 5.1% of votes (36 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Visclosky’s Profile » Compare to all Indiana Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); All Representatives (83rd 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 their bills out of committee the 2nd least often compared to Indiana DelegationMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Visclosky introduced 1 bill in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 1488: Indiana Dunes National Park Act Compare to all Indiana Delegation (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Democrats (49th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 5th fewest bills compared to House DemocratsVisclosky cosponsored 104 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 Indiana Delegation (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Democrats (2nd percentile); All Representatives (16th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedVisclosky introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Indiana 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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Powerful Cosponsors0 of Visclosky’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. Compare to all Indiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all Indiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsVisclosky 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 Visclosky’s Profile » Compare to all Indiana Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Visclosky supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Visclosky 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Visclosky cosponsored H.R. 4396: ME TOO Congress Act; H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and … Compare to all Indiana Delegation (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (55th 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 2017) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
