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Sen. Thom Tillis’s 2018 Report Card

Junior Senator from North Carolina
Republican
Serving Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2027

These statistics cover Tillis’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other senators 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 Tillis’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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Was most absent in votes compared to Senate Sophomores

Tillis missed 5.5% of votes (33 of 599 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Tillis’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (92nd percentile); All Senators (91st percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 2nd fewest bills compared to Senate Sophomores (tied with 2 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 5 of Tillis’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the House. 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: S. 1416: A bill to amend title …; S. 1741: Special Counsel Integrity Act; S. 1745: A bill to revise the …; S. 2030: Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Harmonization …; S. 3093: Keep Families Together and Enforce …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (20th percentile); All Senators (15th percentile).

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

Held the 4th fewest committee positions compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 4 others)

Tillis 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. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Tillis’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (6th percentile); All Senators (8th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 5th fewest bills compared to Senate Republicans (tied with 3 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 10 of Tillis’s 18 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Tillis caucused with in the 115th Congress.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (8th percentile); All Senators (12th percentile).

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

Introduced the 7th fewest bills compared to All Senators

Tillis introduced 18 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (8th percentile); Senate Republicans (6th percentile); All Senators (6th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 9th most bills compared to Senate Republicans

Tillis cosponsored 264 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 Senate Sophomores (69th percentile); Senate Republicans (82nd percentile); All Senators (46th percentile).

 

Got the 12th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Tillis’s bills and resolutions had 103 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 Senate Sophomores (23rd percentile); Senate Republicans (12th percentile); All Senators (11th percentile).

 

Ranked the 12th bottom/follower compared to Senate Republicans

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 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Tillis’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (38th percentile); Senate Republicans (22nd percentile); All Senators (23rd percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 11th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Tillis introduced 4 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 2030: Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Harmonization …; S. 2304: Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending …; S. 2382: SEA Act; S. 3093: Keep Families Together and Enforce …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (15th percentile); Senate Republicans (10th percentile); All Senators (10th percentile).

 

Ranked 19th most politically right compared to All Senators

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 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Tillis’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (46th percentile); Senate Republicans (62nd percentile); All Senators (81st percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 25th least often compared to All Senators (tied with 15 others)

4 of Tillis’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: S. 2030: Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Harmonization …; S. 2304: Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending …; S. 2564: PROTECT Asbestos Victims Act of …; S. 3388: Ensuring Coverage for Patients with …

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (28th percentile); All Senators (24th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Tillis introduced 3 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: S. 2030: Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Harmonization …; S. 2304: Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending …; S. 2382: SEA Act

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (31st percentile); Senate Republicans (28th percentile); All Senators (36th 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.
 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 264 bills that Tillis cosponsored, 29% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (69th percentile); Senate Republicans (64th percentile); All Senators (55th percentile).

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

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Tillis supported any of 14 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Tillis 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all Senate Sophomores (0th percentile); Senate Republicans (0th percentile); All Senators (0th 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.