Rep. Tom Cole’s 2020 Report Card
Representative
from Oklahoma's 4th District
Republican
Serving Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Cole’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.
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 Cole’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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Cosponsored the 3rd most bills compared to House RepublicansCole cosponsored 561 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 Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); House Republicans (98th percentile); All Representatives (77th percentile). |
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Held the 3rd most committee positions compared to House Republicans (tied with 2 others)Cole held a leadership position on 1 committee 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 Cole’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 8th most often compared to Serving 10+ YearsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 561 bills that Cole cosponsored, 62% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Republicans (90th percentile); All Representatives (95th 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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Was 12th most present in votes compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 4 others)Cole missed 0.4% of votes (4 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Cole’s Profile » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (6th percentile); All Representatives (10th 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 the 63rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)Cole’s bills and resolutions had 60 cosponsors in the 116th 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 Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); House Republicans (26th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 53rd fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 21 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 3 of Cole’s 10 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Cole caucused with in the 116th Congress. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Republicans (20th percentile); All Representatives (12th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Ranked the 68th bottom/follower compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cole’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (16th percentile); House Republicans (28th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). |
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Introduced the 66th fewest bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 15 others)Cole introduced 10 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); House Republicans (28th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 59th least often compared to All Representatives (tied with 44 others)1 of Cole’s bills and resolutions in the 116th 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. 375: To amend the Act of … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (13th percentile); House Republicans (24th percentile); All Representatives (13th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedCole introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th 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. 288: Arbuckle Project Maintenance Complex and … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (38th percentile); House Republicans (51st percentile); All Representatives (37th 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. Cole introduced 2 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 288: Arbuckle Project Maintenance Complex and …; H.R. 375: To amend the Act of … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Republicans (55th percentile); All Representatives (32nd 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. 29: Honoring the 150th anniversary of …; H.Res. 1228: Recognizing National Native American Heritage …; H.R. 289: Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act …; H.R. 1401: Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act … Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Republicans (73rd percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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 116th Congress) 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.
