Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s 2017 Report Card
Representative
from New Jersey's 11th District
Republican
Served Jan 4, 1995 – Jan 3, 2019
These year-end statistics cover Frelinghuysen’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 Frelinghuysen’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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Wrote the most laws compared to All RepresentativesFrelinghuysen introduced 5 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. View Enacted Bills » Those bills were: H.R. 1301: Department of Defense Appropriations Act, …; H.R. 3672: Making supplemental appropriations for disaster …; H.R. 4008: Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster …; H.J.Res. 99: Making further continuing appropriations for …; H.J.Res. 123: Making further continuing appropriations for … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); House Republicans (100th percentile); All Representatives (100th 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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Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to New Jersey DelegationFrelinghuysen cosponsored 86 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 New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (12th percentile); House Republicans (16th percentile); All Representatives (10th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to New Jersey DelegationOf the 86 bills that Frelinghuysen cosponsored, 15% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); House Republicans (67th percentile); All Representatives (38th 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 influential cosponsors the least often compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 1 other)0 of Frelinghuysen’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. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Held the 2nd most committee positions compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 1 other)Frelinghuysen held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 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 Frelinghuysen’s Profile » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile). |
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Ranked the 14th bottom/follower compared to House RepublicansOur 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 Frelinghuysen’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); House Republicans (5th percentile); All Representatives (7th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 13th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Frelinghuysen introduced 10 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.Res. 502: Providing for the concurrence by …; H.Res. 569: Providing for the concurrence by …; H.R. 1301: Department of Defense Appropriations Act, …; H.R. 3672: Making supplemental appropriations for disaster …; H.R. 4008: Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster …; H.R. 4667: Making further supplemental appropriations for …; H.Con.Res. 53: Providing for a correction in …; H.Con.Res. 85: Providing for a correction in …; H.J.Res. 99: Making further continuing appropriations for …; H.J.Res. 123: Making further continuing appropriations for … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile). |
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Was 29th most present in votes compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 3 others)Frelinghuysen missed 0.8% of votes (6 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Frelinghuysen’s Profile » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); All Representatives (26th 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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Got the 33rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)Frelinghuysen’s bills and resolutions had 17 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 New Jersey Delegation (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); House Republicans (7th percentile); All Representatives (7th percentile). |
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Bills IntroducedFrelinghuysen introduced 12 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Republicans (54th percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (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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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 1 of Frelinghuysen’s 12 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (7th percentile); House Republicans (5th percentile); All Representatives (6th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Frelinghuysen supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Frelinghuysen 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Frelinghuysen cosponsored H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd 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.
