Rep. James Oberstar

Former Representative from Minnesota's 8^th District

Elected Positions

Dates	Title	Representing
1975-2010	Representative	Minnesota's 8^th District

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Sponsorship Analysis

Oberstar was a rank-and-file Democrat according to GovTrack's own analysis of bill sponsorship from Oberstar’s time serving in the House of Representatives.

Use this chart to compare Oberstar to other members of the House of Representatives in the 111^th Congress on leadership and ideology.

This chart is based on principal components analysis for ideology and PageRank for leadership. See analysis methodology.

Bill Sponsorship & Cosponsorship

Some of Oberstar’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » (including bills from previous years)

Voting Record

From Jan 1975 to Dec 2010, Oberstar missed 800 of 21,276 roll call votes, which is 3.8%. This is worse than the median of 3.1% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2010. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Elligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1975 Jan-Mar	68	1	1.5%	13^th
1975 Apr-Jun	199	8	4.0%	31^st
1975 Jul-Sep	146	4	2.7%	13^th
1975 Oct-Dec	191	0	0.0%	0^th
1976 Jan-Mar	106	0	0.0%	0^th
1976 Apr-Jun	267	0	0.0%	0^th
1976 Jul-Sep	280	1	0.4%	6^th
1976 Oct-Oct	7	0	0.0%	0^th
1977 Jan-Mar	100	0	0.0%	0^th
1977 Apr-Jun	273	1	0.4%	9^th
1977 Jul-Sep	198	0	0.0%	0^th
1977 Oct-Dec	134	1	0.7%	9^th
1978 Jan-Mar	149	0	0.0%	0^th
1978 Apr-Jun	300	1	0.3%	9^th
1978 Jul-Sep	308	1	0.3%	9^th
1978 Oct-Oct	75	0	0.0%	0^th
1979 Jan-Mar	63	0	0.0%	0^th
1979 Apr-Jun	220	4	1.8%	24^th
1979 Jul-Sep	198	0	0.0%	0^th
1979 Oct-Dec	190	10	5.3%	21^st
1980 Jan-Mar	148	1	0.7%	0^th
1980 Apr-Jun	196	0	0.0%	0^th
1980 Jul-Sep	192	5	2.6%	17^th
1980 Oct-Dec	67	1	1.5%	7^th
1981 Jan-Mar	15	1	6.7%	50^th
1981 Apr-Jun	89	2	2.2%	18^th
1981 Jul-Sep	106	0	0.0%	0^th
1981 Oct-Dec	142	1	0.7%	13^th
1982 Feb-Mar	48	4	8.3%	67^th
1982 Apr-Jun	119	1	0.8%	13^th
1982 Jul-Sep	193	7	3.6%	36^th
1982 Oct-Dec	99	1	1.0%	10^th
1983 Jan-Mar	43	1	2.3%	13^th
1983 Apr-Jun	182	4	2.2%	24^th
1983 Jul-Sep	130	3	2.3%	35^th
1983 Oct-Nov	141	23	16.3%	93^rd
1984 Jan-Mar	53	3	5.7%	53^rd
1984 Apr-Jun	223	26	11.7%	76^th
1984 Jul-Sep	95	7	7.4%	73^rd
1984 Oct-Oct	36	1	2.8%	29^th
1985 Jan-Mar	36	0	0.0%	0^th
1985 Apr-Jun	154	3	1.9%	24^th
1985 Jul-Sep	101	1	1.0%	19^th
1985 Oct-Dec	148	3	2.0%	28^th
1986 Jan-Mar	61	1	1.6%	19^th
1986 Apr-Jun	127	9	7.1%	78^th
1986 Jul-Sep	201	4	2.0%	37^th
1986 Oct-Oct	60	2	3.3%	56^th
1987 Jan-Mar	39	2	5.1%	63^rd
1987 Apr-Jun	187	1	0.5%	4^th
1987 Jul-Sep	95	4	4.2%	65^th
1987 Oct-Dec	167	21	12.6%	85^th
1988 Feb-Mar	49	2	4.1%	40^th
1988 Apr-Jun	161	3	1.9%	37^th
1988 Jul-Sep	152	1	0.7%	10^th
1988 Oct-Oct	89	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Jan-Mar	14	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Apr-Jun	105	3	2.9%	47^th
1989 Jul-Sep	128	3	2.3%	53^rd
1989 Oct-Nov	120	4	3.3%	54^th
1990 Jan-Mar	60	0	0.0%	0^th
1990 Apr-Jun	150	7	4.7%	65^th
1990 Jul-Sep	183	1	0.5%	22^nd
1990 Oct-Oct	143	4	2.8%	54^th
1991 Jan-Mar	62	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Apr-Jun	139	34	24.5%	98^th
1991 Jul-Sep	81	6	7.4%	75^th
1991 Oct-Nov	162	11	6.8%	84^th
1992 Jan-Mar	66	2	3.0%	47^th
1992 Apr-Jun	185	2	1.1%	20^th
1992 Jul-Sep	196	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Oct-Oct	41	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Jan-Mar	127	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Apr-Jun	190	3	1.6%	36^th
1993 Jul-Sep	164	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	4	3.0%	64^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	1	1.1%	21^st
1994 Apr-Jun	219	7	3.2%	64^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	5	3.5%	60^th
1994 Oct-Nov	51	0	0.0%	0^th
1995 Jan-Mar	279	0	0.0%	0^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	7	3.7%	71^st
1995 Jul-Sep	232	15	6.5%	88^th
1995 Oct-Dec	185	5	2.7%	59^th
1996 Jan-Mar	110	0	0.0%	0^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	6	3.3%	60^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	5	3.1%	62^nd
1997 Jan-Mar	71	1	1.4%	38^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	16	9.2%	93^rd
1997 Jul-Sep	232	17	7.3%	90^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	3	1.8%	47^th
1998 Jan-Mar	89	1	1.1%	24^th
1998 Apr-Jun	185	1	0.5%	20^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	8	4.0%	72^nd
1998 Oct-Dec	74	2	2.7%	57^th
1999 Jan-Mar	77	2	2.6%	55^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	3	1.6%	43^rd
1999 Jul-Sep	204	8	3.9%	78^th
1999 Oct-Nov	146	3	2.1%	42^nd
2000 Jan-Mar	95	1	1.1%	22^nd
2000 Apr-Jun	277	9	3.2%	59^th
2000 Jul-Sep	130	2	1.5%	42^nd
2000 Oct-Dec	101	8	7.9%	54^th
2001 Jan-Mar	75	0	0.0%	0^th
2001 Apr-Jun	135	2	1.5%	33^rd
2001 Jul-Sep	149	1	0.7%	24^th
2001 Oct-Dec	153	3	2.0%	46^th
2002 Jan-Mar	79	3	3.8%	63^rd
2002 Apr-Jun	203	3	1.5%	32^nd
2002 Jul-Sep	141	1	0.7%	27^th
2002 Oct-Nov	61	6	9.8%	82^nd
2003 Jan-Mar	94	10	10.6%	93^rd
2003 Apr-Jun	239	11	4.6%	75^th
2003 Jul-Sep	193	15	7.8%	85^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	2	1.3%	31^st
2004 Jan-Mar	104	4	3.8%	47^th
2004 Apr-Jun	221	8	3.6%	60^th
2004 Jul-Sep	161	6	3.7%	57^th
2004 Oct-Dec	58	6	10.3%	82^nd
2005 Jan-Mar	90	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	34	12.5%	96^th
2005 Jul-Sep	146	10	6.8%	83^rd
2005 Oct-Dec	163	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Jan-Mar	81	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Apr-Jun	276	19	6.9%	89^th
2006 Jul-Sep	159	2	1.3%	43^rd
2006 Nov-Dec	27	2	7.4%	62^nd
2007 Jan-Mar	213	2	0.9%	36^th
2007 Apr-Jun	393	24	6.1%	86^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	11	3.5%	70^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	93	35.4%	99^th
2008 Jan-Mar	149	39	26.2%	97^th
2008 Apr-Jun	321	38	11.8%	93^rd
2008 Jul-Sep	205	0	0.0%	0^th
2008 Oct-Dec	15	1	6.7%	79^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	2	1.1%	33^rd
2009 Apr-Jun	303	4	1.3%	30^th
2009 Jul-Sep	268	1	0.4%	11^th
2009 Oct-Dec	246	8	3.3%	55^th
2010 Jan-Mar	195	3	1.5%	29^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	11	5.0%	69^th
2010 Jul-Sep	151	3	2.0%	44^th
2010 Nov-Dec	99	11	11.1%	75^th

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
Congressional Biographical Directory for elected positions
United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
THOMAS, for sponsored bills

Recent Legislative Activity

Bill Text

H.R. 4915 (111th): Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010

This bill’s text for status Passed the Senate (Engrossed) with an Amendment (Dec 18, 2010) is now available.

Sep 16, 2012 8:51 p.m.

Bill Text

H.R. 1746 (111th): Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Act of 2010

This bill’s text for status Passed Congress/Enrolled Bill (Jan 01, 2010) is now available.

Sep 16, 2012 8:50 p.m.

Bill Text

H.R. 1746 (111th): Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Act of 2010

This bill’s text for status Passed the Senate (Engrossed) with an Amendment (Dec 20, 2010) is now available.

Sep 16, 2012 8:49 p.m.

Bill Text

H.R. 4714 (111th): National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization Act of 2010

This bill’s text for status Referred to Senate Committee (Sep 29, 2010) is now available.

Sep 16, 2012 8:38 p.m.

Bill Text

H.R. 4714 (111th): National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization Act of 2010

This bill’s text for status Passed the House (Engrossed) (Sep 28, 2010) is now available.

Sep 16, 2012 8:35 p.m.