Rep. Ryan Zinke’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from Montana's At-Large District
Republican
Served Jan 6, 2015 – Mar 1, 2017
These statistics cover Zinke’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 Zinke’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 bicameral support on the most bills compared to House FreshmenThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 286: Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa …; H.R. 577: To require the Secretary of …; H.R. 1522: To amend the Internal Revenue …; H.R. 2080: To reinstate and extend the …; H.R. 2081: To extend the deadline for …; H.R. 3867: Clean Water for Rural Communities …; H.R. 4375: Repeal ID Act of 2016; H.R. 6528: Litigation Relief for Forest Management … Compare to all House Freshmen (98th percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Introduced the 3rd most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 1 other)Zinke introduced 22 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all House Freshmen (94th percentile); House Republicans (74th percentile); All Representatives (72nd percentile). |
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Got the 7th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House FreshmenZinke’s bills and resolutions had 319 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 House Freshmen (89th percentile); House Republicans (70th percentile); All Representatives (67th percentile). |
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Ranked the 7th top leader compared to House FreshmenOur 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 Zinke’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all House Freshmen (89th percentile); House Republicans (68th percentile); All Representatives (77th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 2 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 7 of Zinke’s 22 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all House Freshmen (83rd percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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Was 13th most absent in votes compared to House FreshmenZinke missed 2.7% of votes (36 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Zinke’s Profile » Compare to all House Freshmen (80th percentile); All Representatives (56th 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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Ranked 23rd 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 Zinke’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all House Freshmen (92nd percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 26th most bills compared to House RepublicansZinke cosponsored 337 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 (83rd percentile); House Republicans (89th percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 40th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Zinke introduced 5 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 2080: To reinstate and extend the …; H.R. 2081: To extend the deadline for …; H.R. 2358: Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection …; H.R. 5259: Certainty for States and Tribes …; H.R. 5633: Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act Compare to all House Freshmen (88th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 101st least often compared to All RepresentativesOf the 337 bills that Zinke cosponsored, 9% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all House Freshmen (34th percentile); House Republicans (40th percentile); All Representatives (23rd 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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Laws EnactedZinke introduced 1 bill 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. View Enacted Bills » Those bills were: H.R. 5633: Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act Compare to all House Freshmen (44th percentile); House Republicans (45th percentile); All Representatives (49th 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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Powerful Cosponsors2 of Zinke’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.Res. 553: Urging the President and the …; H.Res. 807: Expressing support for designation of … Compare to all House Freshmen (45th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsZinke 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 Zinke’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 Zinke supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Zinke 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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.
