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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from Texas's 18th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 4, 1995 – Jan 3, 2025


These year-end statistics cover Jackson Lee’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare her to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

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.

 

Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Texas Delegation

Of the 772 bills that Jackson Lee cosponsored, 5% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); House Democrats (8th percentile); All Representatives (4th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.


 

Ranked most politically left compared to Texas Delegation

Our 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 2019 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 (2nd percentile); House Democrats (2nd percentile); All Representatives (1st percentile).


 

Got influential cosponsors the 3rd most often compared to Texas Delegation (tied with 1 other)

5 of Jackson Lee’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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. 40: Commission to Study and Develop …; H.R. 835: Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019; H.R. 2898: To direct the Secretary of …; H.R. 4290: To direct the Secretary of …; H.R. 4339: End Racial Profiling Act of …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); House Democrats (64th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile).


 

Got the 4th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Texas Delegation

Jackson Lee’s bills and resolutions had 495 cosponsors in 2019. 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 (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Democrats (71st percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).


 

Ranked the 4th top leader compared to Texas Delegation

Our 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Jackson Lee’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (64th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile).


 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 5th most bills compared to Texas Delegation (tied with 1 other)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 8 of Jackson Lee’s 38 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Jackson Lee caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.


 

Cosponsored the 7th most bills compared to All Representatives

Jackson Lee cosponsored 772 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 (97th percentile); House Democrats (97th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).


 

Introduced the 11th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)

Jackson Lee introduced 38 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).


 

Got their bills out of committee the 31st most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 27 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Jackson Lee introduced 5 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 434: Emancipation National Historic Trail Study …; H.R. 494: Tiffany Joslyn Juvenile Accountability Block …; H.R. 495: FIRST State and Local Law …; H.R. 835: Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019; H.R. 3710: Cybersecurity Vulnerability Remediation Act

Compare to all Texas Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile).


 

Laws Enacted

Jackson Lee introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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.


 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Jackson Lee’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.R. 1642: Combating the Illicit Trade in …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (28th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.


 

Committee Positions

Jackson Lee 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 Jackson Lee’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).


 

Missed Votes

Jackson Lee missed 2.0% of votes (14 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Jackson Lee’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (51st 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.


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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.