Congress Classroom · student handout · figures current to September 15, 2026
Name Period
Sponsor. The one legislator who introduced the measure. Only a legislator can, though the idea can come from anyone.
Cosponsor. A legislator who asks to add their name in support. There is no limit, and cosponsoring is not a vote.
Bill. A proposed law. H.R. in the House, S. in the Senate. If it passes both chambers in the same words and the President signs it, it becomes law.
Committee. A standing group of legislators responsible for one set of subjects. Almost every measure is sent to one, and most never leave it.
Chamber. The House of Representatives or the Senate. A measure has to get through both.
Any action. Anything recorded on a measure, from being introduced to a hearing or a vote.
Before you look at the table, guess: what matters most for whether a bill gets out of committee? Its subject? How long the sponsor has served? How many people signed on? Write your guess here:
Now look. Every House bill from the first 620 days of each Congress is sorted by one thing only: whether at least one cosponsor came from a party other than the sponsor's. "Reported" means the committee sent the bill on to the full House.
| Congress | Sponsor is in the | No cosponsor from the other party | At least one from the other party | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 113th | majority * | 10.5% | 15.6% | 1.5x |
| 113th | minority * | 1.9% | 5.3% | 2.8x |
| 114th | majority | 11.3% | 18.6% | 1.6x |
| 114th | minority | 1.8% | 8.6% | 4.8x |
| 115th | majority | 13.3% | 20.8% | 1.6x |
| 115th | minority | 1.6% | 11.7% | 7.3x |
| 116th | majority * | 4.3% | 8.2% | 1.9x |
| 116th | minority * | 1.4% | 6.3% | 4.5x |
| 117th | majority | 3.7% | 8.2% | 2.2x |
| 117th | minority | 1% | 7.2% | 7.2x |
| 118th | majority * | 6.3% | 12.7% | 2x |
| 118th | minority * | 0.9% | 5.7% | 6.3x |
| 119th | majority | 8.9% | 13.5% | 1.5x |
| 119th | minority | 0.8% | 5.3% | 6.6x |
* A Congress where the House and Senate were held by different parties.
1. In how many rows did bills with a cross-party cosponsor do no better?
2. Is the difference bigger for sponsors in the majority or the minority? Why might that be?
A committee chair decides what the committee takes up, and chairs come from the majority party. This table counts, for every Congress and both chambers, how often bills from the majority were reported compared with bills from the minority.
| Congress | Chamber | Chambers held by | Majority bills reported | Minority bills reported | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 113th | House | different parties | 13.1% | 3% | 4.3x |
| 113th | Senate | different parties | 12.3% | 5.7% | 2.2x |
| 114th | House | the same party | 15% | 4.3% | 3.5x |
| 114th | Senate | the same party | 16.5% | 7.1% | 2.3x |
| 115th | House | the same party | 17.2% | 5.5% | 3.1x |
| 115th | Senate | the same party | 15% | 6.4% | 2.4x |
| 116th | House | different parties | 6% | 3.6% | 1.7x |
| 116th | Senate | different parties | 10.4% | 4.8% | 2.2x |
| 117th | House | the same party | 5.7% | 3% | 1.9x |
| 117th | Senate | the same party | 5.9% | 4.3% | 1.4x |
| 118th | House | different parties | 8.8% | 2.9% | 3x |
| 118th | Senate | different parties | 8.6% | 4.8% | 1.8x |
| 119th | House | the same party | 10.8% | 2.6% | 4.2x |
| 119th | Senate | the same party | 7.4% | 5.3% | 1.4x |
3. The table never says which party held the majority. Using any reference you like, fill in the party for three rows. Does knowing the party change what the numbers say? Explain.
The same fact, counted in people. Of every House member who introduced at least one bill, this is how many got at least one of them out of committee.
| Congress | In the majority | In the minority |
|---|---|---|
| 113th House | 157 of 236 (66.5%) | 58 of 206 (28.2%) |
| 114th House | 193 of 250 (77.2%) | 78 of 193 (40.4%) |
| 115th House | 207 of 245 (84.5%) | 104 of 199 (52.3%) |
| 116th House | 175 of 239 (73.2%) | 69 of 205 (33.7%) |
| 117th House | 154 of 229 (67.2%) | 71 of 214 (33.2%) |
| 118th House | 186 of 228 (81.6%) | 87 of 216 (40.3%) |
| 119th House | 192 of 225 (85.3%) | 91 of 219 (41.6%) |
4. Pick one Congress. Write one sentence a newspaper could print that states this row's fact without taking a side.
There is a stage between "sitting in committee" and "reported" that almost nobody knows about. A committee can vote to report a bill and then never file the report. Some of those bills pass anyway, by a road that needs no report. The rest are approved and stranded at the same time: 1,319 bills are in that state across these seven Congresses. Here are twelve.
Neither table on this sheet names which party held the majority. Why does leaving the party out make the pattern stronger rather than weaker?