Rep. Thomas Garrett’s 2018 Report Card
Representative
from Virginia's 5th District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2019
These statistics cover Garrett’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other representatives 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 Garrett’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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Got bicameral support on the fewest bills compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.J.Res. 117: Condemning the violence and domestic … Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (30th percentile); House Republicans (16th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Held the fewest committee positions compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 1 other)Garrett 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. 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 Garrett’s Profile » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Was 2nd most absent in votes compared to House FreshmenGarrett missed 10.8% of votes (131 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Garrett’s Profile » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (91st percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); All Representatives (93rd 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. |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Virginia DelegationOf the 230 bills that Garrett cosponsored, 13% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (9th percentile); House Freshmen (33rd percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Virginia DelegationGarrett’s bills and resolutions had 256 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 Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); House Freshmen (76th percentile); House Republicans (63rd percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 3rd least often compared to Virginia Delegation (tied with 1 other)4 of Garrett’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: H.R. 1282: DHS Acquisition Review Board Act …; H.R. 4553: Terrorist Screening and Targeting Review …; H.R. 5890: Assisting States’ Implementation of Plans …; H.J.Res. 117: Condemning the violence and domestic … Compare to all Virginia Delegation (18th percentile); House Freshmen (66th percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile). |
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Ranked the 6th top leader compared to House FreshmenOur 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 Garrett’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Virginia Delegation (27th percentile); House Freshmen (91st percentile); House Republicans (54th percentile); All Representatives (61st percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 6th most often compared to House Freshmen (tied with 5 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Garrett introduced 6 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 1282: DHS Acquisition Review Board Act …; H.R. 3183: To designate the facility of …; H.R. 3184: To designate the facility of …; H.R. 4553: Terrorist Screening and Targeting Review …; H.R. 5890: Assisting States’ Implementation of Plans …; H.J.Res. 117: Condemning the violence and domestic … Compare to all Virginia Delegation (64th percentile); House Freshmen (84th percentile); House Republicans (59th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile). |
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Ranked 11th most politically right compared to House FreshmenOur 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 Garrett’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Virginia Delegation (82nd percentile); House Freshmen (84th percentile); House Republicans (67th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 11th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 4 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 10 of Garrett’s 21 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Garrett caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); House Freshmen (78th percentile); House Republicans (61st percentile); All Representatives (64th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Laws EnactedGarrett 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: H.R. 3183: To designate the facility of …; H.R. 3184: To designate the facility of …; H.J.Res. 117: Condemning the violence and domestic … Compare to all Virginia Delegation (55th percentile); House Freshmen (88th percentile); House Republicans (72nd percentile); All Representatives (81st 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. |
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Bills IntroducedGarrett introduced 21 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Virginia Delegation (36th percentile); House Freshmen (73rd percentile); House Republicans (61st percentile); All Representatives (59th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredGarrett cosponsored 230 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 Virginia Delegation (27th percentile); House Freshmen (45th percentile); House Republicans (61st percentile); All Representatives (37th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Garrett supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Garrett 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Garrett cosponsored H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and … Compare to all Virginia Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (28th percentile); House Republicans (21st percentile); All Representatives (19th 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.
