Rep. Sanford Bishop’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from Georgia's 2nd District
Democrat
Serving Jan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Bishop’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 Bishop’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 their bills out of committee the 3rd least often compared to Georgia Delegation (tied with 2 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Bishop introduced 1 bill in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 482: Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park … Compare to all Georgia Delegation (14th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); House Democrats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 17th most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 296 bills that Bishop cosponsored, 44% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Democrats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (96th 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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Introduced the 18th fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 11 others)Bishop introduced 4 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (14th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (3rd percentile); House Democrats (4th percentile); All Representatives (4th percentile). |
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Got the 41st fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 2 others)Bishop’s bills and resolutions had 100 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 Georgia Delegation (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (25th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 43rd fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 23 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 3 of Bishop’s 4 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Georgia Delegation (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (25th percentile); House Democrats (22nd percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 44th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 31 others)2 of Bishop’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. 333: Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act; H.R. 5248: To amend title 38, United … Compare to all Georgia Delegation (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedBishop introduced 0 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. Compare to all Georgia Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all Georgia Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (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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Committee PositionsBishop 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 Bishop’s Profile » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (21st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Democrats (39th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredBishop cosponsored 296 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 Georgia Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); All Representatives (58th percentile). |
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Missed VotesBishop missed 2.1% of votes (28 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Bishop’s Profile » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); All Representatives (47th 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Bishop supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Bishop 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Bishop cosponsored H.R. 3838: Fairness in Incarcerated Representation Act Compare to all Georgia Delegation (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Democrats (4th percentile); All Representatives (31st 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.
