Voters may be regretting their decision after seeing Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., missed almost three-fourths of her votes in Congress this year, more than any other representative, according to GovTrack’s annual report cards released Jan. 9.
The report cards summarize each representative and senator’s activity during 2013. The topics include number of bills introduced, percentage of bills with bipartisan co-sponsors and committee positions.
“Each senator and representative is compared to other senators and representatives and to other relevant groups of senators and representatives,” GovTrack said in a statement.
Meaning, senior Democrats are compared with other senior Democrats and freshmen are compared to other freshmen to shed further light on the year in review.
GovTrack.us ranked members by category, revealing some interesting insight into the chambers.
The member of the House with the most laws enacted was Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., who ironically cannot even vote in the House.
Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., took the honor of introducing the most bills of the year, totaling 45, only one more than Norton.
Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, co-sponsored the most bills at a whopping 272.
The numbers also informed readers of the current state of both houses when it comes to party affiliation. Of the 439 members of the House, delegates were included, 396 of them resided in safe districts. Additionally, 180 members have been serving for 10 years or more.
GovTrack also scored legislators on an issue near and dear to the organization’s heart: transparency. Members were ranked based on their support on 20 transparency bills in 2013. Reps. Darrel Issa, R-Calif., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., both came in first with support for nine of the bills. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., was first among senators with eight bills supported.
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