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Rep. Trent Franks’s 2016 Report Card

Representative from Arizona's 8th District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Dec 8, 2017

These statistics cover Franks’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 Franks’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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Joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to Arizona Delegation

Of the 383 bills that Franks cosponsored, 9% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (16th percentile); House Republicans (39th percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile).

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

Ranked 3rd most politically right compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Franks’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); House Republicans (95th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 3rd least often compared to Arizona Delegation (tied with 2 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Franks supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Franks 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Franks cosponsored H.R. 653: FOIA Act; H.R. 4177: Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our …

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); All Representatives (52nd percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 11th most bills compared to House Republicans

Franks cosponsored 383 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 Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (75th percentile); House Republicans (96th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 16th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 7 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 7 of Franks’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. 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: H.Res. 530: Expressing support for the goals …; H.Res. 929: Expressing support for the goals …; H.R. 308: Keep the Promise Act of …; H.R. 788: Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act; H.R. 1540: SISA Act; H.R. 2922: Adoptive Family Relief Act; H.R. 3504: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (88th percentile); House Republicans (91st percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

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

Ranked the 20th top leader compared to All Representatives

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 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Franks’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); House Republicans (92nd percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

 

Got the 47th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Representatives

Franks’s bills and resolutions had 669 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 Arizona Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); House Republicans (88th percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 50th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 12 of Franks’s 19 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (85th percentile); House Republicans (83rd percentile); All Representatives (87th percentile).

 

Held the 53rd most committee positions compared to All Representatives (tied with 16 others)

Franks held a leadership position on 0 committees and 2 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 Franks’s Profile »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Republicans (81st percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Franks introduced 1 bill 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 2922: Adoptive Family Relief Act

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); House Republicans (45th percentile); All Representatives (49th 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.
 

Bills Introduced

Franks introduced 19 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (58th percentile); House Republicans (65th percentile); All Representatives (63rd percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Franks introduced 2 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 308: Keep the Promise Act of …; H.R. 1073: CIPA

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

4 of Franks’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. 36: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act; H.R. 2922: Adoptive Family Relief Act; H.R. 3504: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act; H.R. 4559: United States Commission on the …

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (56th percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Franks missed 3.0% of votes (40 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Franks’s Profile »

Compare to all Arizona Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (47th percentile); All Representatives (59th 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.

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.