Rep. Xochitl Torres Small’s 2020 Report Card
Representative
from New Mexico's 2nd District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2021
These statistics cover Torres Small’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare her 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 Torres Small’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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Got their bills out of committee the 10th most often compared to House Freshmen (tied with 3 others)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Torres Small introduced 7 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 1598: U.S. Customs and Border Protection …; H.R. 1891: White Sands National Park Establishment …; H.R. 1912: DHS Acquisition Documentation Integrity Act …; H.R. 4891: Western Water Security Act of …; H.R. 5273: Securing America’s Ports Act; H.R. 5824: Federal Law Enforcement Training Research …; H.R. 7888: REACH VET reporting Act Compare to all House Freshmen (86th percentile); House Democrats (72nd percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile). |
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Ranked 17th 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 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Torres Small’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all House Freshmen (52nd percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 16th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 3 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 16 of Torres Small’s 21 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Torres Small caucused with in the 116th Congress. Compare to all House Freshmen (80th percentile); House Democrats (65th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Ranked the 19th bottom/follower 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 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Torres Small’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all House Freshmen (30th percentile); House Democrats (8th percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 15th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 8 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 1891: White Sands National Park Establishment …; H.R. 2794: Defense Small Business Advancement Act …; H.R. 4243: Rural MOMS Act; H.R. 6956: Farming Support to States Act …; H.R. 7004: Save Our Rural Health Providers …; H.R. 7190: Increasing Rural Health Access During … Compare to all House Freshmen (76th percentile); House Democrats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Cosponsored the 21st fewest bills compared to House DemocratsTorres Small cosponsored 291 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 House Freshmen (36th percentile); House Democrats (8th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Got the 23rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House DemocratsTorres Small’s bills and resolutions had 119 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 House Freshmen (30th percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); All Representatives (25th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 36th most often compared to House DemocratsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 291 bills that Torres Small cosponsored, 15% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all House Freshmen (40th percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (47th 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 45th most present in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 17 others)Torres Small missed 0.4% of votes (4 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Torres Small’s Profile » Compare to all House Freshmen (23rd 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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Introduced the 54th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 20 others)Torres Small introduced 21 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all House Freshmen (45th percentile); House Democrats (22nd percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). |
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Held the 57th most committee positions compared to All Representatives (tied with 20 others)Torres Small 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 Torres Small’s Profile » Compare to all House Freshmen (92nd percentile); House Democrats (79th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile). |
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Laws EnactedTorres Small introduced 3 bills 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. 1891: White Sands National Park Establishment …; H.R. 5273: Securing America’s Ports Act; H.R. 7888: REACH VET reporting Act Compare to all House Freshmen (81st percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (84th 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 Cosponsors5 of Torres Small’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. 1891: White Sands National Park Establishment …; H.R. 1912: DHS Acquisition Documentation Integrity Act …; H.R. 2937: MOMS Leave Act; H.R. 4891: Western Water Security Act of …; H.R. 5273: Securing America’s Ports Act Compare to all House Freshmen (74th percentile); House Democrats (42nd percentile); All Representatives (61st 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 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.
