All 2014 Report Cards
Rep. Jim Cooper's 2014 Report Card
Representative from Tennessee's 5th District
Serving Jan 7, 2003 – Jan 3, 2023
These statistics cover Cooper's record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 12, 2015. Although Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA1], Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4], Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10], and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI] served in the 112th Congress, they took office within the last two months of the 112th Congress and here are grouped with other freshmen for the 113th 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 Cooper'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.
Powerful Cosponsors
Bills Out of Committee
Joining Bipartisan Bills
Working with the Senate
Bills Cosponsored
Bills Introduced
Laws Enacted
Missed Votes
Got influential cosponsors the least often compared to Tennessee Delegation (tied with 1 other)
0 of Cooper's bills and resolutions in the 113th 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.
Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).
Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Tennessee Delegation
Cooper's bills and resolutions had 153 cosponsors in the 113th 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 Tennessee Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); Safe House Seats (42nd percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile).
Supported government transparency the 10th most often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 6 others)
GovTrack looked at whether Cooper supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Cooper 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.
Cooper cosponsored H.R. 1104: Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments ...; H.R. 1380: Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports ...
Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Democrats (88th percentile); Safe House Seats (93rd percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile).
Joined bipartisan bills the 14th 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 177 bills that Cooper cosponsored, 50% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »
Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (89th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (97th percentile); House Democrats (93rd percentile); Safe House Seats (98th 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.
Cosponsored the 20th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 1 other)
Cooper cosponsored 177 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 Tennessee Delegation (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile).
Introduced the 30th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 8 others)
Cooper introduced 7 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills »
Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (22nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (15th percentile); House Democrats (14th percentile); Safe House Seats (17th percentile); All Representatives (16th percentile).
Got bicameral support on the 45th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 41 others)
The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Cooper'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. 310: No Budget, No Pay Act
Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (18th percentile); House Democrats (21st percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile).
Companion bills are those that are identified as "identical" by Congress's Congressional Research Service.
Cooper introduced 0 bills that became law in the 113th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.
A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cooper introduced 0 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.
Cooper 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 Cooper's Profile »
Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); Safe House Seats (40th percentile); All Representatives (41st percentile).
Cooper missed 1.7% of votes (21 of 1,204 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Cooper's Profile »
Compare to all Tennessee Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); Safe House Seats (37th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).
The Speaker of the House is not included in this statistic because according to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in "ordinary legislative proceedings, and the delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are also not included because they were not elligible to vote in any roll call votes.
The Speaker's Votes: Missed votes are not computed for the Speaker of the House. According to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in "ordinary legislative proceedings." In practice this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes but is not considered absent.
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 113th Congress) 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.