Rep. Robert Aderholt’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from Alabama's 4th District
Republican
Serving Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Aderholt’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 Aderholt’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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Held the most committee positions compared to Alabama DelegationAderholt held a leadership position on 0 committees and 2 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Aderholt’s Profile » Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); Safe House Seats (84th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile). |
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Got the 2nd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Alabama DelegationAderholt’s bills and resolutions had 53 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 Alabama Delegation (14th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Republicans (27th percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (25th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 20th least often compared to Serving 10+ YearsOf the 90 bills that Aderholt cosponsored, 6% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Alabama Delegation (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (11th percentile); House Republicans (25th percentile); Safe House Seats (16th percentile); All Representatives (14th 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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Introduced the 21st fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 15 others)Aderholt introduced 3 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Alabama Delegation (14th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); House Republicans (5th percentile); Safe House Seats (4th percentile); All Representatives (5th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 43rd fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Aderholt cosponsored 90 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 Alabama Delegation (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (12th percentile); House Republicans (14th percentile); Safe House Seats (10th percentile); All Representatives (10th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 33rd least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 28 others)1 of Aderholt’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. 191: Repeal Executive Amnesty Act of … Compare to all Alabama Delegation (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (19th percentile); House Republicans (22nd percentile); Safe House Seats (20th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile). |
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Laws EnactedAderholt 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 Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Aderholt introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 3049: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and … Compare to all Alabama Delegation (71st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Republicans (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (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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Missed VotesAderholt missed 1.6% of votes (11 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Aderholt’s Profile » Compare to all Alabama Delegation (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); Safe House Seats (44th percentile); All Representatives (45th 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 Aderholt supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Aderholt 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (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 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.
