Rep. Walter B. Jones’s 2013 Report Card
Representative
from North Carolina's 3rd District
Republican
Served Jan 4, 1995 – Feb 10, 2019
These year-end statistics cover Jones’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.
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 Jones’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 most bills compared to House RepublicansJones cosponsored 412 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 North Carolina Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (96th percentile); House Republicans (100th percentile); Safe House Seats (98th percentile); All Representatives (98th percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 8th lowest % of bills compared to House RepublicansJones tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 13% of Jones’s 23 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013. Compare to all House Republicans (8th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (18th percentile); Safe House Seats (15th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Supported government transparency the 7th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 7 others)GovTrack looked at whether Jones supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Jones 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Jones cosponsored H.R. 760: Readable Legislation Act of 2013; H.R. 2440: FISA Court in the Sunshine …; H.R. 2475: Ending Secret Law Act Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (95th percentile); House Republicans (97th percentile); Safe House Seats (96th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile). |
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Ranked 13th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ YearsOur 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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Jones’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (88th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 14th most often compared to House RepublicansIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 412 bills that Jones cosponsored, 26% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (69th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); Safe House Seats (67th percentile); All Representatives (64th 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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Introduced the 25th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)Jones introduced 23 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills » Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); House Republicans (94th percentile); Safe House Seats (94th percentile); All Representatives (94th percentile). |
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Got their bills out of committee the 18th most often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 16 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Jones introduced 2 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 126: Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act; H.R. 819: Preserving Access to Cape Hatteras … Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); House Republicans (72nd percentile); Safe House Seats (82nd percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile). |
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Was 66th most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)Jones missed 5.9% of votes (38 of 641 votes) in 2013. View Jones’s Profile » Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (77th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); Safe House Seats (83rd percentile); All Representatives (84th 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 EnactedJones introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. |
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Powerful Cosponsors0 of Jones’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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 North Carolina Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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.R. 187: To correct the boundaries of … Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); House Republicans (36th percentile); Safe House Seats (37th percentile); All Representatives (36th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsJones 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 Jones’s Profile » Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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CosponsorsJones’s bills and resolutions had 87 cosponsors in 2013. 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 North Carolina Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (40th percentile); House Republicans (42nd percentile); Safe House Seats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Jones’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all North Carolina Delegation (54th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); House Republicans (36th percentile); Safe House Seats (47th percentile); All Representatives (48th 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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
