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Rep. Rodney Davis’s 2017 Report Card

Representative from Illinois's 13th District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2023

These year-end statistics cover Davis’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 Davis’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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Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to Illinois 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 Davis’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (89th percentile); House Republicans (77th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 2nd most often compared to Illinois Delegation (tied with 2 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Davis introduced 3 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 66: Route 66 Centennial Commission Act; H.R. 1029: Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act …; H.R. 1665: Disaster Declaration Improvement Act

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (78th percentile); House Republicans (59th percentile); All Representatives (72nd percentile).

 

Ranked 4th most politically right compared to Illinois Delegation

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 Davis’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (78th percentile); House Republicans (43rd percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 30th most bills compared to House Republicans

Davis cosponsored 207 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 Illinois Delegation (44th percentile); House Republicans (88th percentile); All Representatives (61st percentile).

 

Got the 39th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Republicans

Davis’s bills and resolutions had 350 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 Illinois Delegation (83rd percentile); House Republicans (84th percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 40th most often compared to House Republicans

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 207 bills that Davis cosponsored, 21% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (39th percentile); House Republicans (83rd percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile).

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

Was 72nd most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Davis missed 5.2% of votes (37 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Davis’s Profile »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (78th 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.
 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 85th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 20 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 7 of Davis’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (50th percentile); House Republicans (72nd percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Davis introduced 1 bill 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 66: Route 66 Centennial Commission Act

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (72nd percentile); House Republicans (73rd percentile); All Representatives (79th 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

Davis introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (61st percentile); House Republicans (68th percentile); All Representatives (67th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of Davis’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. 1665: Disaster Declaration Improvement Act; H.R. 2492: Protecting Taxpayers From Corruption Act

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (28th percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 2 of Davis’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. 1205: Social Security Fairness Act of …; H.R. 2162: End Government Shutdowns Act

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (50th percentile); House Republicans (52nd percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Davis 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 Davis’s Profile »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (22nd percentile); House Republicans (37th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Davis supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Davis 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Davis cosponsored H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and …

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (28th percentile); House Republicans (36th percentile); All Representatives (28th 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.