Rep. Robert Wittman’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from Virginia's 1st District
Republican
Serving Dec 13, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Wittman’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.
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 Wittman’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 influential cosponsors the 3rd least often compared to Virginia Delegation2 of Wittman’s bills and resolutions in the 114th 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. 2406: SHARE Act; H.R. 3428: Adoption Information Act Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 2nd least often compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 2 others)GovTrack looked at whether Wittman supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Wittman 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Wittman cosponsored H.R. 4177: Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our … Compare to all Virginia Delegation (9th percentile); House Republicans (51st percentile); All Representatives (31st percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 3rd least often compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Wittman introduced 1 bill in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 2406: SHARE Act Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 57th most often compared to House RepublicansIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 269 bills that Wittman cosponsored, 17% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (45th percentile); House Republicans (77th percentile); All Representatives (46th 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 bicameral support on the 65th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 15 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 242: Expressing the sense of the …; H.Res. 404: Commemorating the 75th anniversary of …; H.Res. 676: Expressing the sense of the …; H.R. 872: To extend Federal recognition to …; H.R. 2345: To extend the date after … Compare to all Virginia Delegation (73rd percentile); House Republicans (82nd percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Ranked 108th most politically right 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Wittman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Virginia Delegation (64th percentile); House Republicans (56th percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile). |
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Was 107th most present in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)Wittman missed 1.1% of votes (15 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Wittman’s Profile » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); All Representatives (25th 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 EnactedWittman introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (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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Bills IntroducedWittman introduced 19 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (45th percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); All Representatives (63rd percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 9 of Wittman’s 19 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Virginia Delegation (55th percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsWittman 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 Wittman’s Profile » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (27th percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredWittman cosponsored 269 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 Virginia Delegation (55th percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile). |
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CosponsorsWittman’s bills and resolutions had 123 cosponsors in the 114th 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 Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); House Republicans (33rd percentile); All Representatives (32nd percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Wittman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); House Republicans (26th percentile); All Representatives (35th 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 114th Congress) 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.
