In the 109th Congress, there were 39 House and 19 Senate cosponsors by mid September. Historically, few cosponsors are added after mid September.

Information from RTO Online Congressional Facebook
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)	Contact information Web: http://www.house.gov/blackburn/ Email: Web Form Washington Office: 509 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-4305 Phone: 202-225-2811 Fax: 202-225-3004 District Offices: Franklin,  Clarksville,  Memphis,    Staff Chief of Staff: Steve Brophy Scheduler: Caroline Nugent Legislative Director: Mike Platt Communications Director: Ryan Loskarn
Tom  Feeney (R-FL)	Contact information Web: http://www.house.gov/feeney/ Email: Web Form Washington Office: 323 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-0924 Phone: 202-225-2706 Fax: 202-226-6299 District Offices: Orlando,  Port Orange,  Titusville,    Staff Chief of Staff: Jason Roe Scheduler: Emily Smith Legislative Director: Tonnie Wybensinger Press Secretary: Pepper Pennington

Tennessee Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn and Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney, have cosponsored the House version of the Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act of 2007 (H.R. 1767). Blackburn and Feeney bring the total House cosponsor count for the 110th Congress to 55.

The Senate version of Consumer Rental-Purchase Agreement Act of 2007 has 18 cosponsors, the latest being Sam Brownback in July.

In the 109th Congress, there were 39 House and 19 Senate cosponsors by mid September. Historically, few cosponsors are added after mid September.

During the 107th Congress, the only time The Act passed the House of Representatives, there were 83 cosponsors by June 27th. The Act never came to a vote in the Senate.

Cosponsor counts are not necessarily indicative of a bills likelihood to pass. According to the Library of Congress, the average bill that becomes law has only 9 cosponsors. Many have none.

In the 108th Congress, there were 7,804 bills introduced in the Senate. The average Senator cosponsored 78 bills. The average bill had only 4 cosponsors.

Cosponsorships are a relatively new phenomenon in the U.S. Congress. The practice was first allowed in the Senate in the mid-1930s and was not allowed in the House until the late 1960s.

In his 2005 study, Who is the Best Connected Legislator, James Fowler, University of California Davis, found that cosponsorships tell more about the relationships between senior legislators that sponsor (write) the bills, and more junior legislators that want to curry favor with their senior colleagues, than actual support for legislation.

Fowler found that there is a significant amount of mutual cosponsorship - legislators are more likely to cosponsor bills that are sponsored by those who return the favor.

A study done in 1982 by James E. Campbell, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia, Athens, found that a representative's cosponsorship activity is influenced by three factors; ideology (the representative's measure of good public policy), by the representative's general level of legislative activity, and by the representative's re-election prospects if in the Senate and seniority if in the House.

Camppbell found that Senior members of the House of Representatives are less likely to cosponsor bills than their junior colleagues. Seniority in the Senate has no impact on cosponsorships. Instead, Campbell found that a Senators willingness to cosponsor legislation increases as his/her re-election chances decrease.

Campbell says the cosponsorship is essentially a low cost method of campaign advertising, signaling to constituents the candidates ideological views.

There have been 19 bills introduced since 1993 that would regulate the rent to own industry at the federal level. None have passed both houses of Congress (See Rent to Own Legislation 1993 to present).

RTO Online Congressional Resources:
Complete House of Representatives Contact List and Facebook
Complete Senate Contact List and Facebook
Rent to Own Legislation 1993 to present