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Rep. Terri Sewell’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from Alabama's 7th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Sewell’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 Sewell’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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Wrote the most laws compared to Alabama Delegation

Sewell introduced 1 bill 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 2147: RURAL Act of 2019

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); All Representatives (63rd 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.
 

Introduced the most bills compared to Alabama Delegation

Sewell introduced 20 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (64th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the most often compared to Alabama Delegation

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Sewell introduced 3 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 4: Voting Rights Advancement Act of …; H.R. 2147: RURAL Act of 2019; H.R. 3429: HEARTS and Rural Relief Act

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (48th percentile); All Representatives (66th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the most bills compared to Alabama Delegation

Sewell cosponsored 336 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 Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (73rd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Alabama Delegation

Of the 336 bills that Sewell cosponsored, 11% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (60th percentile); All Representatives (32nd 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 Alabama 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 Sewell’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (0th percentile); House Democrats (75th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Was 2nd most present in votes compared to Alabama Delegation

Sewell missed 0.9% of votes (6 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Sewell’s Profile »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (14th percentile); All Representatives (31st 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.
 

Ranked the 11th 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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Sewell’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Got the 17th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives

Sewell’s bills and resolutions had 1,051 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 Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 28th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 10 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 7 of Sewell’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. 1051: Back Pay Fairness Act of …; H.R. 1052: To amend title XVIII of …; H.R. 1680: New Markets Tax Credit Extension …; H.R. 2573: Home Health Payment Innovation Act …; H.R. 3416: HEARTS and Rural Relief Act; H.R. 3429: HEARTS and Rural Relief Act; H.R. 3538: Rural Jobs Act

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

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

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 31st most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 8 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 15 of Sewell’s 20 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Sewell caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (86th percentile); House Democrats (87th percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

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

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Sewell’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. 4: Voting Rights Advancement Act of …; H.R. 1763: Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act …; H.R. 2573: Home Health Payment Innovation Act …

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (71st percentile); House Democrats (42nd percentile); All Representatives (59th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Sewell 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 Sewell’s Profile »

Compare to all Alabama Delegation (29th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd 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 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.