Rep. Ami Bera
Representative for California’s 6th District
pronounced AH-mee // BEH-ruh
Bera is the representative for California’s 6th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2023. Bera is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 58 years old.
He was previously the representative for California’s 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 2013 to 2022.
![Photo of Rep. Ami Bera [D-CA6]](/static/legislator-photos/412512-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Bera proposed $38 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $4 million to US Army Corps of Engineers - Sacramento District for “Antelope Groundwater Well”
- $4 million to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento, Inc. for “Citrus Heights Sayonara Drive Housing Project”
- $4 million to City of Rancho Cordova for “Mather Veterans Village Phase 4”
View all requests and justifications on Bera’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Bera.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Bera is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Bera has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 30, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Ami Bera sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Bera was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 8153 (117th): Indo-Pacific Engagement Act
- H.R. 7152 (117th): Tracking Pathogens Act
- H.R. 3084 (117th): Taiwan Fellowship Act
Does 3 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Bera sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (47%) International Affairs (38%) Taxation (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Bera recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5782: To ensure access to cost-free rabies postexposure prophylaxis.
- H.R. 4698: To provide for a study on food animal microbiomes, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 4570: Legacies of War Recognition and Unexploded Ordnance Removal Act
- H.R. 4274: HERO Act
- H.R. 4147: Reproductive Health Care Training Act of 2023
- H.R. 3948: Care for COFA Veterans Act
- H.Res. 462: Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and condemning the continued …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Oct 2023, Bera missed 66 of 6,206 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is better than the median of 1.7% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
