Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s 2018 Report Card
Representative
from Texas's 18th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 1995 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Jackson Lee’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare her 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 Jackson Lee’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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Ranked most politically left compared to Texas DelegationOur 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 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Jackson Lee’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Texas Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (4th percentile); House Democrats (6th percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile). |
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Introduced the 4th most bills compared to All RepresentativesJackson Lee introduced 65 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 9th fewest bills compared to Texas Delegation (tied with 2 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 5 of Jackson Lee’s 65 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Jackson Lee caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Texas Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (25th percentile); House Democrats (28th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Cosponsored the 11th most bills compared to All RepresentativesJackson Lee cosponsored 779 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 (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 14th least often compared to House DemocratsOf the 779 bills that Jackson Lee cosponsored, 17% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Texas Delegation (61st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (30th percentile); House Democrats (7th percentile); All Representatives (38th 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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Got the 29th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesJackson Lee’s bills and resolutions had 814 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 Texas Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); House Democrats (91st percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile). |
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Ranked the 30th top leader compared to House DemocratsOur 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 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Jackson Lee’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Texas Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 23rd most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 20 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Jackson Lee introduced 4 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 58: FRIENDS Act; H.R. 68: Tiffany Joslyn Juvenile Accountability Block …; H.R. 2442: FIRST State and Local Law …; H.R. 3202: Cyber Vulnerability Disclosure Reporting Act Compare to all Texas Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (58th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 39th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 12 others)8 of Jackson Lee’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.Res. 12: Expressing the sense of the …; H.Res. 386: Recognizing June 19, 2017, as …; H.Res. 715: Commemorating the 50th anniversary of …; H.Res. 948: Recognizing June 19, 2018, as …; H.R. 3654: Special Counsel Independence Protection Act; H.R. 4268: Gun Safety: Not Sorry Act …; H.R. 6067: Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2018; H.R. 6545: Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act … Compare to all Texas Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); House Democrats (86th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 56th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 30 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 386: Recognizing June 19, 2017, as …; H.Res. 948: Recognizing June 19, 2018, as …; H.R. 935: Cyber Security Education and Federal …; H.R. 1981: Cyber Security Education and Federal …; H.R. 3654: Special Counsel Independence Protection Act Compare to all Texas Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (80th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Laws EnactedJackson Lee introduced 0 bills 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. Compare to all Texas 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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Committee PositionsJackson Lee 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 Jackson Lee’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Democrats (41st percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Missed VotesJackson Lee missed 3.0% of votes (36 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Jackson Lee’s Profile » Compare to all Texas Delegation (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (47th percentile); All Representatives (55th 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 Jackson Lee supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Jackson Lee 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Jackson Lee cosponsored H.R. 4396: ME TOO Congress Act; H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and … Compare to all Texas Delegation (53rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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.
