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

Rep. Ted Poe’s 2016 Report Card

Representative from Texas's 2nd District
Republican
Served Jan 4, 2005 – Jan 3, 2019

These statistics cover Poe’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 Poe’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...

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the most bills compared to Texas Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 22 of Poe’s 49 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (97th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 4th most often compared to All Representatives

18 of Poe’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.Res. 37: Expressing the sense of the …; H.Res. 650: Providing for the safety and …; H.Res. 658: Condemning in the strongest terms …; H.R. 181: Justice for Victims of Trafficking …; H.R. 237: FTO Passport Revocation Act of …; H.R. 583: Timely Repatriation Act; H.R. 1415: Jane’s Law; H.R. 2233: End Warrantless Surveillance of Americans …; H.R. 3626: Ensuring Affordable Energy Act; H.R. 3654: Combat Terrorist Use of Social …; H.R. 3766: Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability …; H.R. 4032: States’ Right of Refugee Refusal …; H.R. 4197: State Refugee Security Act of …; H.R. 4602: Justice for All Reauthorization Act …; H.R. 5321: Stopping Mass Hacking Act; H.R. 5422: To ensure funding for the …; H.R. 6036: Extending Justice for Sex Crime …; H.R. 6341: Review the Rule Act of …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); House Republicans (99th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 5th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 5 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 9 of Poe’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. 296: Justice for Victims of Trafficking …; H.R. 2883: Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act; H.R. 3653: Help Find the Missing Act; H.R. 4197: State Refugee Security Act of …; H.R. 4602: Justice for All Reauthorization Act …; H.R. 5321: Stopping Mass Hacking Act; H.R. 5422: To ensure funding for the …; H.R. 5809: Back the Blue Act of …; H.R. 6341: Review the Rule Act of …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Republicans (96th percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

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

Introduced the 9th most bills compared to All Representatives

Poe introduced 49 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Republicans (98th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile).

 

Was 9th most absent in votes compared to All Representatives

Poe missed 16.3% of votes (216 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Poe’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (94th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); All Representatives (98th 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 their bills out of committee the 16th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Poe introduced 9 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 650: Providing for the safety and …; H.Res. 660: Expressing the sense of the …; H.R. 181: Justice for Victims of Trafficking …; H.R. 237: FTO Passport Revocation Act of …; H.R. 3654: Combat Terrorist Use of Social …; H.R. 3765: ADA Education and Reform Act …; H.R. 3766: Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability …; H.R. 5208: North Korea State Sponsor of …; H.R. 5422: To ensure funding for the …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Republicans (92nd percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

 

Ranked the 25th top leader compared to All Representatives

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 the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Poe’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); All Representatives (94th percentile).

 

Ranked 28th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Poe’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Texas Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); House Republicans (53rd percentile); All Representatives (73rd percentile).

 

Got the 40th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives

Poe’s bills and resolutions had 701 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 Texas Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (86th percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 43rd most often compared to House Republicans

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 304 bills that Poe cosponsored, 20% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (69th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43rd percentile); House Republicans (83rd percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 49th most bills compared to House Republicans

Poe cosponsored 304 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 (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); House Republicans (80th percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Poe introduced 5 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 181: Justice for Victims of Trafficking …; H.R. 296: Justice for Victims of Trafficking …; H.R. 3766: Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability …; H.R. 4602: Justice for All Reauthorization Act …; H.R. 5422: To ensure funding for the …

Compare to all Texas Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (94th percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); All Representatives (97th 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.
 

Committee Positions

Poe 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 Poe’s Profile »

Compare to all Texas Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Poe supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Poe 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Poe cosponsored H.R. 3348: PROTECT Act of 2015

Compare to all Texas Delegation (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Republicans (51st 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.