Rep. Thomas Massie’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from Kentucky's 4th District
Republican
Serving Nov 13, 2012 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Massie’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 Massie’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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Introduced the 4th fewest bills compared to House SophomoresMassie introduced 8 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); House Sophomores (4th percentile); House Republicans (19th percentile); All Representatives (16th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 5th fewest bills compared to House SophomoresMassie cosponsored 183 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 Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); House Sophomores (5th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (20th percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 16th most often compared to House Republicans (tied with 6 others)GovTrack looked at whether Massie supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Massie 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Massie cosponsored H.R. 4006: Statutes at Large Modernization Act; H.R. 5760: Searchable Legislation Act of 2016; H.R. 5759: Readable Legislation Act of 2016 Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (67th percentile); House Sophomores (59th percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (67th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 17th least often compared to House Sophomores (tied with 12 others)2 of Massie’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.R. 24: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of …; H.R. 86: Safe Students Act Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); House Sophomores (22nd percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile). |
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Was 97th most present in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)Massie missed 1.1% of votes (14 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Massie’s Profile » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (27th percentile); All Representatives (22nd 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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Laws EnactedMassie introduced 0 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. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (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. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Massie introduced 1 bill in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 24: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of … Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (23rd percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 6 of Massie’s 8 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (67th percentile); House Sophomores (36th percentile); House Republicans (52nd percentile); All Representatives (52nd percentile). |
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Committee PositionsMassie 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 Massie’s Profile » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 183 bills that Massie cosponsored, 14% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all House Sophomores (33rd percentile); House Republicans (68th percentile); All Representatives (39th 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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CosponsorsMassie’s bills and resolutions had 352 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 Kentucky Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (67th percentile); House Republicans (72nd percentile); All Representatives (70th 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.
