Rep. Scott DesJarlais’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from Tennessee's 4th District
Republican
Serving Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover DesJarlais’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 DesJarlais’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 fewest bills compared to Tennessee DelegationThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to Tennessee DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 2 of DesJarlais’s 7 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); All Representatives (12th percentile). |
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Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Tennessee DelegationDesJarlais’s bills and resolutions had 114 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 Tennessee Delegation (22nd percentile); House Republicans (29th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 53rd most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 1 other)DesJarlais cosponsored 291 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 Tennessee Delegation (44th percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 54th least often compared to All RepresentativesOf the 291 bills that DesJarlais cosponsored, 7% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (44th percentile); House Republicans (21st percentile); All Representatives (12th 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 51st fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 20 others)DesJarlais introduced 7 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile). |
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Was 82nd most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)DesJarlais missed 5.2% of votes (69 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View DesJarlais’s Profile » Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (56th percentile); All Representatives (81st 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 EnactedDesJarlais 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 Tennessee Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (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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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. DesJarlais introduced 0 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors2 of DesJarlais’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. 3115: Enhancing Safety at Military Installations …; H.R. 4105: Horse Protection Amendments Act of … Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsDesJarlais 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 DesJarlais’s Profile » Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether DesJarlais supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave DesJarlais 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. DesJarlais cosponsored H.R. 653: FOIA Act; H.R. 4177: Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our … Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (56th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); All Representatives (52nd 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.
