Five Out Of 199 Doesn’t Make A Bill “Bipartisan”

Now that HR 8 – the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 – has been posted to the Library of Congress website we can see who is listed as a co-sponsor. Five Republicans out of 199 Republican House members in the 116th Congress doesn’t really qualify the bill to be called “bipartisan”. It is a semantics game played by both parties and it is equally misleading whichever party sponsors a bill.

Here are the five Republicans who are co-sponsoring the bill:

Rep. King, Peter T. [R-NY-2]


Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1]


Rep. Mast, Brian J. [R-FL-18]


Rep. Upton, Fred [R-MI-6]


Rep. Smith, Christopher H. [R-NJ-4]

King, Fitzpatrick, Mast, and Upton were all co-sponsors of a similar bill, HR 4240, in the prior Congress.