Rep. Ron Estes’s 2018 Report Card
Representative
from Kansas's 4th District
Republican
Serving Apr 25, 2017 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Estes’s record during the 115th Congress (Apr 25, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.
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 Estes’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 bipartisan cosponsors on the 8th fewest bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 3 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 1 of Estes’s 9 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Estes caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all House Freshmen (10th percentile); House Republicans (2nd percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Got the 16th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Estes’s bills and resolutions had 15 cosponsors in the 115th 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 House Freshmen (10th percentile); House Republicans (3rd percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 22nd least often compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Of the 125 bills that Estes cosponsored, 6% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all House Freshmen (9th percentile); House Republicans (8th percentile); All Representatives (5th 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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Cosponsored the 49th fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)Estes cosponsored 125 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 House Freshmen (25th percentile); House Republicans (17th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile). |
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Introduced the 64th fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 19 others)Estes introduced 9 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all House Freshmen (22nd percentile); House Republicans (14th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile). |
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Was 89th most present in votes compared to All RepresentativesEstes missed 1.0% of votes (10 of 988 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Estes’s Profile » Compare to all House Freshmen (39th percentile); All Representatives (20th 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 EnactedEstes introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th Congress. 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. 3383: To designate the flood control … Compare to all House Freshmen (37th percentile); House Republicans (22nd percentile); All Representatives (34th 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 Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Estes introduced 4 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 3383: To designate the flood control …; H.R. 3669: Securing General Aviation and Commercial …; H.R. 4559: Global Aviation System Security Reform …; H.R. 5099: Enhancing DHS’ Fusion Center Technical … Compare to all House Freshmen (58th percentile); House Republicans (35th percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Estes’s bills and resolutions in the 115th 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. 3669: Securing General Aviation and Commercial …; H.R. 4559: Global Aviation System Security Reform …; H.R. 5099: Enhancing DHS’ Fusion Center Technical … Compare to all House Freshmen (51st percentile); House Republicans (46th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 5584: Wichita Project Equus Beds Division … Compare to all House Freshmen (30th percentile); House Republicans (16th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsEstes held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Estes’s Profile » Compare to all House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Estes supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Estes 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Estes cosponsored H.R. 24: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of … Compare to all House Freshmen (28th percentile); House Republicans (21st percentile); All Representatives (19th 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 115th Congress) 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.
