Rep. Timothy Walz’s 2018 Report Card
Representative
from Minnesota's 1st District
Democrat
Served Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2019
These statistics cover Walz’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 Walz’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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Held the most committee positions compared to Minnesota Delegation (tied with 1 other)Walz held a leadership position on 1 committee 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 Walz’s Profile » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Democrats (90th percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile). |
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Was 2nd most absent in votes compared to All RepresentativesWalz missed 32.6% of votes (395 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Walz’s Profile » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); All Representatives (100th 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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 3rd fewest bills compared to Minnesota Delegation (tied with 3 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 8 of Walz’s 12 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Walz caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (55th percentile); House Democrats (52nd percentile); All Representatives (52nd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Ranked the 5th top leader compared to House DemocratsOur 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 Walz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); All Representatives (92nd percentile). |
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Ranked 12th most politically right compared to House DemocratsOur 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 Walz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 13th most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 350 bills that Walz cosponsored, 44% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (97th 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 their bills out of committee the 23rd most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 20 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Walz introduced 4 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 1725: To direct the Secretary of …; H.R. 2519: The American Legion 100th Anniversary …; H.R. 4245: Veterans’ Electronic Health Record Modernization …; H.R. 5520: VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (58th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile). |
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Introduced the 49th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 5 others)Walz introduced 12 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile). |
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Got the 79th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All RepresentativesWalz’s bills and resolutions had 515 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 Minnesota Delegation (75th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile). |
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Laws EnactedWalz introduced 2 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. 1725: To direct the Secretary of …; H.R. 2519: The American Legion 100th Anniversary … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); House Democrats (76th 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. |
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Powerful Cosponsors4 of Walz’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. 2519: The American Legion 100th Anniversary …; H.R. 4245: Veterans’ Electronic Health Record Modernization …; H.R. 4316: Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity …; H.R. 5520: VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Democrats (48th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 335: Supporting the goals and ideals …; H.R. 4245: Veterans’ Electronic Health Record Modernization …; H.R. 5520: VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act … Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (47th percentile); House Democrats (48th percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Bills CosponsoredWalz cosponsored 350 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 Minnesota Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); House Democrats (32nd percentile); All Representatives (66th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Walz supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Walz 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Walz cosponsored H.R. 2678: ETHICS Act of 2017; H.R. 4396: ME TOO Congress Act Compare to all Minnesota Delegation (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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.
