Kennelly was the representative for Connecticut’s 1st congressional district and was a Democrat. She served from 1981 to 1998.
![Photo of Rep. Barbara Kennelly [D-CT1, 1981-1998]](/static/legislator-photos/406284-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Kennelly is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1998 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 Kennelly sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 5, 1993 to Dec 17, 1998. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Kennelly was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 3724 (103rd): To designate the United States courthouse located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, as the “Brien McMahon Federal Building”.
- H.R. 4325 (98th): Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984
Does 2 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
Kennelly sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (17%) Labor and Employment (17%) Government Operations and Politics (14%) Commerce (12%) Economics and Public Finance (11%) Finance and Financial Sector (10%) Families (10%) Health (9%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Kennelly recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 4030 (105th): Affordable and Quality Child Care Act of 1998
- H.R. 3965 (105th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the provision …
- H.R. 3895 (105th): 21st Century Firearm Technology and Safety Act of 1998
- H.R. 3763 (105th): To provide for the liquidation or reliquidation of certain customs entries of …
- H.R. 3292 (105th): Investment in Children Act of 1998
- H.R. 3170 (105th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent the conversion …
- H.R. 2851 (105th): To prohibit application of a payment limit to a drug or biological …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Feb 1982 to Dec 1998, Kennelly missed 312 of 8,679 roll call votes, which is 3.6%. This is on par with the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 1998. 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
- 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
