House Retirees Missing Votes

Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., has announced that he won't seek re-election in 2008, but his voting statistics suggest that he already has one foot out the door of Congress. LaHood has missed 18 percent of floor votes this year, easily the most in any session since coming to Washington in...

 

By | October 19, 2007; 01:03 PM ET | Comments (0)

Colorado Republicans vs. the NEA

Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn advanced a Colorado tradition this week when he offered an amendment to the FY2008 Interior appropriations bill that would have eliminated funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, for which the House appropriated $160 million. The measure, which failed by a vote of 97-335, was...

 

By | June 29, 2007; 06:21 PM ET | Comments (0)

Perfect Attendance in the House

While the news media makes much of lawmakers who miss a large percentage of votes in the House or Senate, less attention is paid to those who show up for every last roll call, even the ones congratulating sports teams and commemorating a week or month. A new feature on...

 

By | June 25, 2007; 01:37 PM ET | Comments (0)

House Leaders' Votes With Party

One of the new features on our Congress Votes database is a score for each lawmaker that tracks the percentage of votes which they agree with a majority of their party colleagues (here are the current House members, for example). Among the top House leaders, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has...

 

By | June 6, 2007; 04:44 PM ET | Comments (0)

A Busy House

The House of Representatives has been voting often this year. On May 2 the House was in session from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. and during that time held 23 recorded votes, one shy of the most on a single calendar day in the period since 1991 (a "legislative day"...

 

By | May 21, 2007; 07:00 PM ET | Comments (0)

Old Rivalries Die Hard

Votes in the House commending college championship sports teams usually are a lopsided affair, and this year's vote congratulating the Florida Gators for winning their second consecutive NCAA basketball title was no exception: it passed 415-0. But the lack of opposition doesn't mean everyone was in favor. Along with 13...

 

By | May 3, 2007; 02:29 PM ET | Comments (3)

House GOP Now Committed to Recommitting

House Republicans have used a procedural maneuver called a "motion to recommit" to force some Democrats into tough votes or, in the case of the bill that would grant D.C. a full representative in the House, temporarily derail legislation. Thus far in the 110th Congress, nine of 24 motions to...

 

By | April 25, 2007; 04:33 PM ET | Comments (0)

In the House, It's Unanimous

Amid the current partisan rancor in the House of Representatives there is also an unusual level of agreement. Of the first 244 votes in the House this year, 65 have been unanimously approved -- more than one in every four votes. So far, that's a far higher rate than in...

 

By | April 24, 2007; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (1)

Stevens: Alaska's Most Reliable Voter

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is not only the longest-serving Senate Republican, as Paul Kane reports, but also one of its more dependable voters. In fact, Stevens, 83, has by far the best attendance record among Alaska's three-person delegation since 1991 (GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski has missed fewer votes, but...

 

By | April 13, 2007; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (0)

House Votes: Three Nail-biters So Far

The Democratic-controlled House has held more than 200 votes since the start of the 110th Congress, and so far there have been only three truly close votes with single-digit margins: the recent budget resolution, passage of the supplemental appropriations bill and a motion to recommit on a bill promoting the...

 

By | April 10, 2007; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (0)

Blue Dogs Sticking With the Party

Members of the House Blue Dog Coalition - moderate and conservative Democrats - have been in lockstep with their party on most votes so far this year, an analysis of vote data shows. A majority of the 43 Blue Dogs have voted with their party 98.6 percent of the time,...

 

By | April 9, 2007; 12:01 AM ET | Comments (0)