skip to main content
Hide All The Ads With a Yearly Membership Subscribe ▶

Rep. Steve Scalise’s 2017 Report Card

House Majority Whip
Representative from Louisiana's 1st District
Republican
Serving May 7, 2008 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Scalise’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.

Members of Congress with party leadership roles often do not participate in the legislative process in the same way as other Members of Congress. Since Scalise was busy being House Majority Whip, the metrics of legislative activity listed below may not apply.

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 Scalise’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.

Jump to...

 

Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Serving 10+ Years

Of the 26 bills that Scalise cosponsored, 0% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

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

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

Introduced the fewest bills compared to Louisiana Delegation

Scalise introduced 4 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (13th percentile); House Republicans (9th percentile); All Representatives (9th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the fewest bills compared to Louisiana Delegation

Scalise cosponsored 26 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 Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (1st percentile); House Republicans (1st percentile); All Representatives (1st percentile).

 

Was 2nd most absent in votes compared to All Representatives

Scalise missed 37.9% of votes (269 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Scalise’s Profile »

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); All Representatives (100th 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.
 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 42nd fewest bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 40 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 2 of Scalise’s 4 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (17th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Republicans (17th percentile); All Representatives (18th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Scalise introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Scalise introduced 2 bills in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 599: Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting …; H.R. 4239: SECURE American Energy Act

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (17th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of Scalise’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 599: Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting …; H.R. 4239: SECURE American Energy Act

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (41st percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Scalise’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. 781: Free Speech Fairness Act

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (22nd percentile); House Republicans (27th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Scalise 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 Scalise’s Profile »

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

 

Cosponsors

Scalise’s bills and resolutions had 120 cosponsors in 2017. 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 Louisiana Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (44th percentile); House Republicans (50th percentile); All Representatives (45th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Scalise supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Scalise 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Scalise cosponsored H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and …

Compare to all Louisiana Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); House Republicans (36th percentile); All Representatives (28th 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 2017) 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.