Rep. Richard Nolan’s 2014 Report Card
Representative
from Minnesota's 8th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2019
These statistics cover Nolan’s record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 12, 2015. Although Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA1], Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4], Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10], and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI] served in the 112th Congress, they took office within the last two months of the 112th Congress and here are grouped with other freshmen for the 113th Congress.
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 Nolan’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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Got the fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Minnesota DelegationNolan’s bills and resolutions had 60 cosponsors in the 113th Congress. 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 Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (18th percentile); House Democrats (16th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). |
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Ranked the bottom/follower compared to Minnesota DelegationOur 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 the 113th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Nolan’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Democrats (17th percentile); All Representatives (12th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 3rd most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Nolan introduced 4 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 2650: Fond du Lac Band of …; H.R. 3608: Grand Portage Band Per Capita …; H.R. 4220: School District 318 Land Exchange …; H.R. 4926: To designate a segment of … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Competitive House Seats (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 8th lowest % of bills compared to Competitive House SeatsNolan tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 35% of Nolan’s 17 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress. Compare to all Competitive House Seats (23rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (51st percentile); House Democrats (61st percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Wrote the 8th most laws compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 5 others)Nolan introduced 3 bills that became law in the 113th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills » Those bills were: H.R. 2650: Fond du Lac Band of …; H.R. 3608: Grand Portage Band Per Capita …; H.R. 4926: To designate a segment of … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (88th percentile); Competitive House Seats (91st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); House Democrats (99th percentile); All Representatives (95th 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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Got bicameral support on the 35th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 22 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 2650: Fond du Lac Band of …; H.R. 4220: School District 318 Land Exchange …; H.R. 4735: Health Care Fairness and Stability …; H.R. 4736: North Country National Scenic Trail …; H.R. 4926: To designate a segment of … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Competitive House Seats (80th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 55th most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 294 bills that Nolan cosponsored, 38% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (63rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); All Representatives (87th 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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Bills IntroducedNolan introduced 17 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (63rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (59th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); House Democrats (61st percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors2 of Nolan’s bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress 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. 3608: Grand Portage Band Per Capita …; H.R. 4115: Winter Roads Safety Act of … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Competitive House Seats (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Democrats (35th percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsNolan held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Nolan’s Profile » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredNolan cosponsored 294 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 Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Competitive House Seats (52nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); House Democrats (46th percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile). |
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Missed VotesNolan missed 2.0% of votes (24 of 1,204 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Nolan’s Profile » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Competitive House Seats (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); All Representatives (42nd 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Nolan supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Nolan 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 the 113th Congress) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
