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Rep. Robert Wittman’s 2017 Report Card

Representative from Virginia's 1st District
Republican
Serving Dec 13, 2007 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Wittman’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 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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Supported government transparency the least often compared to Virginia Delegation

GovTrack looked at whether Wittman supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Wittman 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Got the 2nd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Virginia Delegation

Wittman’s bills and resolutions had 99 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 Virginia Delegation (9th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Ranked the 3rd bottom/follower compared to Virginia Delegation

Our 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Wittman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (41st percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); All Representatives (45th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 3rd least often compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 3 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Wittman introduced 1 bill in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 984: Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes …

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile).

 

Ranked 10th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ Years

Our 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Wittman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (82nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Republicans (76th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 32nd most bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 6 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 7 of Wittman’s 14 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (64th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Republicans (72nd percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 53rd most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 1 other)

Wittman cosponsored 184 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); Serving 10+ Years (44th percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 70th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 37 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Wittman’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.R. 578: Military Residency Choice Act; H.R. 984: Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes …; H.R. 2994: SHIPS Act

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (64th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); House Republicans (76th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Laws Enacted

Wittman 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 Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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.
 

Bills Introduced

Wittman introduced 14 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (60th percentile); House Republicans (63rd percentile); All Representatives (63rd percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of Wittman’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.

Those bills were: H.R. 1663: Water Resources Research Amendments Act; H.R. 2994: SHIPS Act

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (27th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (41st percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Wittman 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 (18th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); House Republicans (37th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 184 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); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Republicans (73rd percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Missed Votes

Wittman missed 1.4% of votes (10 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Wittman’s Profile »

Compare to all Virginia Delegation (27th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); All Representatives (41st 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.

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.