Rep. Sam Johnson’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from Texas's 3rd District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 1991 – Jan 3, 2019
These statistics cover Johnson’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 Johnson’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 the most cosponsors on their bills compared to Texas DelegationJohnson’s bills and resolutions had 819 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 Texas Delegation (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (92nd percentile); House Republicans (95th percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 871: Calling on the Department of …; H.R. 918: Social Security Disability Insurance and …; H.R. 1795: Promoting Opportunity through Informed Choice …; H.R. 1800: GRIDD Act of 2015; H.R. 1936: Improving the Integrity of Disability …; H.R. 2135: Promoting Opportunity for Disability Benefit …; H.R. 2136: Improving the Quality of Disability …; H.R. 2334: Refundable Child Tax Credit Eligibility …; H.R. 2359: Disability Fraud Reduction and Unethical …; H.R. 2478: ITIN Reform Act of 2015; H.R. 2514: Helping Veterans Save for Health …; H.R. 3516: Social Security Beneficiary 2nd Amendment …; H.R. 4381: Servicemember Retirement Improvement Act; H.R. 4722: Refundable Child Tax Credit Eligibility …; H.R. 6438: To extend the waiver of …; H.Con.Res. 34: Authorizing the use of Emancipation … Compare to all Texas Delegation (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); House Republicans (99th percentile); All Representatives (100th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Ranked the 10th top leader compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 Johnson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Texas Delegation (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Republicans (96th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). |
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Ranked 13th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ YearsOur 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 Johnson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Texas Delegation (69th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); House Republicans (79th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile). |
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Introduced the 16th most bills compared to House RepublicansJohnson introduced 35 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 24th least often compared to All RepresentativesOf the 223 bills that Johnson cosponsored, 5% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); House Republicans (9th 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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Was 24th most absent in votes compared to All RepresentativesJohnson missed 9.5% of votes (126 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Johnson’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (92nd percentile); All Representatives (94th 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 influential cosponsors the 30th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 8 others)7 of Johnson’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.R. 918: Social Security Disability Insurance and …; H.R. 976: Patient Access to Higher Quality …; H.R. 1475: Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall …; H.R. 1817: No Bonuses for Tax Delinquent …; H.R. 2513: PACE Act of 2015; H.R. 2514: Helping Veterans Save for Health …; H.R. 3516: Social Security Beneficiary 2nd Amendment … Compare to all Texas Delegation (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Republicans (85th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile). |
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Wrote the 39th most laws compared to All Representatives (tied with 39 others)Johnson introduced 2 bills 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. 1475: Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall …; H.J.Res. 10: Providing for the reappointment of … Compare to all Texas Delegation (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 60th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 11 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 11 of Johnson’s 35 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Texas Delegation (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); House Republicans (80th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Johnson introduced 3 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 1475: Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall …; H.R. 4722: Refundable Child Tax Credit Eligibility …; H.R. 5320: Social Security Must Avert Identity … Compare to all Texas Delegation (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Republicans (52nd percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsJohnson 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 Johnson’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredJohnson cosponsored 223 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 Texas Delegation (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); House Republicans (46th percentile); All Representatives (32nd percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Johnson supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Johnson 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all Texas Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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.
