Rep. John Yarmuth’s 2018 Report Card
Representative
from Kentucky's 3rd District
Democrat
Served Jan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2023
These statistics cover Yarmuth’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.
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 Yarmuth’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.
|
|
Got their bills out of committee the least often compared to Kentucky DelegationMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Yarmuth introduced 0 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
|
|
Held the most committee positions compared to Kentucky DelegationYarmuth held a leadership position on 1 committee and 0 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 Yarmuth’s Profile » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Democrats (90th percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile). |
|
|
Cosponsored the most bills compared to Kentucky DelegationYarmuth cosponsored 406 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 Kentucky Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); House Democrats (50th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile). |
|
|
Joined bipartisan bills the most often compared to Kentucky DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 406 bills that Yarmuth cosponsored, 28% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (83rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Democrats (54th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
|
|
Wrote the fewest laws compared to Kentucky Delegation (tied with 1 other)Yarmuth introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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. |
|
|
Introduced the 22nd fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 7 others)Yarmuth introduced 8 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (12th percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile). |
|
|
Got the 34th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House DemocratsYarmuth’s bills and resolutions had 108 cosponsors in the 115th 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 Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (19th percentile); House Democrats (16th percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile). |
|
|
Got influential cosponsors the 44th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 26 others)2 of Yarmuth’s bills and resolutions in the 115th 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. 786: ACHE Act; H.J.Res. 126: Proposing an amendment to the … Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile). |
|
|
Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 48th fewest bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 20 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 5 of Yarmuth’s 8 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Yarmuth caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (25th percentile); House Democrats (28th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
|
|
Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.Res. 514: Expressing support for designation of …; H.Res. 1151: Expressing support for designation of …; H.R. 579: Muhammad Ali Commemorative Coin Act; H.R. 5339: Runaway and Homeless Youth and … Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (63rd percentile); House Democrats (65th percentile); All Representatives (70th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
|
|
Missed VotesYarmuth missed 3.4% of votes (41 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Yarmuth’s Profile » Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Representatives (60th 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. |
|
|
Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Yarmuth supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Yarmuth 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Yarmuth cosponsored H.R. 464: Cameras in the Courtroom Act; H.R. 4396: ME TOO Congress Act; H.Res. 630: Requiring each Member, officer, and … Compare to all Kentucky Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (67th percentile); All Representatives (68th 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 115th Congress) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
