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Rep. Vern Buchanan’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from Florida's 16th District
Republican
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Buchanan’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

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 Buchanan’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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Wrote the most laws compared to Florida Delegation

Buchanan introduced 2 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. 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. 97: Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act …; H.R. 2226: Fentanyl Sanctions Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); All Representatives (89th 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.
 

Cosponsored the 2nd fewest bills compared to Florida Delegation

Buchanan cosponsored 112 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 Florida Delegation (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (19th percentile); House Republicans (31st percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 13th most often compared to All Representatives

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 112 bills that Buchanan cosponsored, 66% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Republicans (94th 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.
 

Ranked 18th most politically left compared to House Republicans

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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Buchanan’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (48th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Republicans (8th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).

 

Ranked the 37th bottom/follower compared to Serving 10+ Years

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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Buchanan’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); House Republicans (54th percentile); All Representatives (32nd percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 36th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 6 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 7 of Buchanan’s 11 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Buchanan caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (56th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (48th percentile); House Republicans (79th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Got bicameral support on the 70th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 34 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 4 of Buchanan’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.R. 99: Thin Blue Line Act; H.R. 100: Veteran Overmedication and Suicide Prevention …; H.R. 1556: Sunshine Protection Act of 2019; H.J.Res. 5: Proposing an amendment to the …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Republicans (88th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

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

Bills Introduced

Buchanan introduced 11 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (32nd percentile); House Republicans (64th percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Buchanan introduced 2 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 97: Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act …; H.R. 2226: Fentanyl Sanctions Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (52nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Republicans (69th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

0 of Buchanan’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Committee Positions

Buchanan held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Buchanan’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (48th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Buchanan’s bills and resolutions had 82 cosponsors in 2019. 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 Florida Delegation (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); House Republicans (52nd percentile); All Representatives (32nd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Buchanan missed 1.7% of votes (12 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Buchanan’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43rd percentile); All Representatives (49th 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 2019) 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.