Bennie Thompson, Representative for Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District

Thompson is the representative for Mississippi’s 2^nd congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Apr 13, 1993. Thompson is next up for reelection in 2020.

Alleged misconduct & resolution

In 2009 Thompson was investigated for receiving impermissible travel gifts. The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct concluded Thompson did not knowingly accept impermissble travel gifts.

Jun. 8, 2009	House Office of Congressional Ethics recommended the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct further review the allegations
Feb. 26, 2010	House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct concluded Representative Thompson did not knowingly accept impermissble travel gifts

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2018 Report Card for Thompson.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Thompson 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 liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Thompson has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Mar 21, 2019. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

American Civil Liberties Union: 100% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 100% NIAC Action: A League of Conservation Voters: 81% Human Rights Campaign: 80% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: B United States Chamber of Commerce: 38% NumbersUSA: 8% Americans for Prosperity: 6% FreedomWorks: 5% The Club for Growth: 0%

Committee Membership

Bennie Thompson sits on the following committees:

Chair, House Committee on Homeland Security

Enacted Legislation

Thompson was the primary sponsor of 11 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Thompson sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Transportation and Public Works (27%) Emergency Management (27%) Government Operations and Politics (24%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (11%) Immigration (5%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (5%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Thompson’s Vote	Vote Description
Yea	H.R. 6157: Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 Sep 26, 2018. Passed 361/61. H.R. 6157 provides $674.6 billion in total discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The bill provides $606.5 billion for the Department of Defense base budget, which is an increase of $17.1 billion above FY18 levels, and $68.1 billion ...
Aye	H.R. 4606: Ensuring Small Scale LNG Certainty and Access Act Sep 6, 2018. Passed 260/146.
Nay	S. 1094: Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 Jun 13, 2017. Passed 368/55. A string of scandals hit the Department of Veterans Affairs in the past few years, including dozens of veterans dying while waiting for care within the required 14 days at VA hospitals, forcing President Obama’s VA Secretary to resign. A new bill that recently passed ...
Not Voting	H.R. 1039: Probation Officer Protection Act of 2017 May 19, 2017. Passed 229/177. H.R. 1039 amends the federal criminal code to authorize a probation officer to arrest a person, without warrant, if there is probable cause to believe that person forcibly assaulted or obstructed a probation officer while performing their official duties. The bill also would direct the ...
Nay	H.R. 1695: Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017 Apr 26, 2017. Passed 378/48. This bill would change the appointment process for the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, known as the Register of Copyrights. Currently the Register of Copyrights is hired by the Librarian of Congress (who is the head of the Library of Congress). This bill would ...
No	H.J.Res. 43: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule submitted by Secretary of Health and Human Services relating ... Feb 16, 2017. Passed 230/188. Joe Biden never got the opportunity to break a single 50-50 Senate tie in eight years as vice president. Mike Pence has already broken two. One from last month has since become law: a measure allowing states to withhold federal Planned Parenthood funding. (The other ...
Yea	H.R. 2048: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015 May 13, 2015. Passed 338/88. The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of the Patriot Act, which had expired the day before. The act imposes some new limits on the bulk collection of ...
No	H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015 Sep 17, 2014. Passed 319/108.
Aye	H.R. 6233 (112th): Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2012 Aug 2, 2012. Passed 223/197.
Aye	H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act Jun 23, 2011. Passed 304/117. The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant legislative change to the U.S. patent system since the ...
Nay	S. 3729 (111th): National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 Sep 29, 2010. Passed 304/118.

Missed Votes

From Apr 1993 to Mar 2019, Thompson missed 708 of 17,159 roll call votes, which is 4.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1993 Apr-Jun	181	53	29.3%	98^th
1993 Jul-Sep	164	4	2.4%	68^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	1	0.7%	20^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	4	4.2%	70^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	8	3.7%	67^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	22	15.5%	92^nd
1994 Oct-Nov	51	1	2.0%	51^st
1995 Jan-Mar	279	2	0.7%	41^st
1995 Apr-Jun	189	6	3.2%	64^th
1995 Jul-Sep	232	6	2.6%	62^nd
1995 Oct-Dec	185	1	0.5%	25^th
1996 Jan-Mar	110	4	3.6%	54^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	4	2.2%	44^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	13	8.0%	93^rd
1997 Jan-Mar	71	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	6	3.4%	73^rd
1997 Jul-Sep	232	7	3.0%	66^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	6	3.7%	73^rd
1998 Jan-Mar	89	0	0.0%	0^th
1998 Apr-Jun	185	4	2.2%	47^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	24	12.1%	90^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	5	6.8%	83^rd
1999 Jan-Mar	77	2	2.6%	54^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	4	2.2%	52^nd
1999 Jul-Sep	204	10	4.9%	86^th
1999 Oct-Nov	146	4	2.7%	56^th
2000 Jan-Mar	95	6	6.3%	69^th
2000 Apr-Jun	277	10	3.6%	65^th
2000 Jul-Sep	130	2	1.5%	46^th
2000 Oct-Dec	101	36	35.6%	98^th
2001 Jan-Mar	75	0	0.0%	0^th
2001 Apr-Jun	135	1	0.7%	22^nd
2001 Jul-Sep	149	1	0.7%	24^th
2001 Oct-Dec	153	18	11.8%	92^nd
2002 Jan-Mar	79	1	1.3%	33^rd
2002 Apr-Jun	203	17	8.4%	91^st
2002 Jul-Sep	141	0	0.0%	0^th
2002 Oct-Nov	61	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Jan-Mar	94	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Apr-Jun	239	2	0.8%	32^nd
2003 Jul-Sep	193	4	2.1%	60^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Jan-Mar	104	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Apr-Jun	221	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Jul-Sep	161	15	9.3%	85^th
2004 Oct-Dec	58	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Jan-Mar	90	1	1.1%	17^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Jul-Sep	146	1	0.7%	25^th
2005 Oct-Dec	163	3	1.8%	33^rd
2006 Jan-Mar	81	1	1.2%	38^th
2006 Apr-Jun	276	4	1.4%	39^th
2006 Jul-Sep	159	9	5.7%	82^nd
2006 Nov-Dec	27	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Jan-Mar	213	1	0.5%	21^st
2007 Apr-Jun	393	2	0.5%	17^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	1	0.3%	4^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	1	0.4%	9^th
2008 Jan-Mar	149	21	14.1%	91^st
2008 Apr-Jun	321	12	3.7%	57^th
2008 Jul-Sep	205	9	4.4%	68^th
2008 Oct-Dec	15	5	33.3%	96^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	2	1.1%	37^th
2009 Apr-Jun	303	15	5.0%	78^th
2009 Jul-Sep	268	12	4.5%	80^th
2009 Oct-Dec	246	0	0.0%	0^th
2010 Jan-Mar	195	4	2.1%	40^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	3	1.4%	24^th
2010 Jul-Sep	151	3	2.0%	49^th
2010 Nov-Dec	99	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Jan-Mar	212	3	1.4%	56^th
2011 Apr-Jun	281	5	1.8%	60^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	16	7.7%	85^th
2012 Jan-Mar	151	18	11.9%	91^st
2012 Apr-Jun	299	21	7.0%	80^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	2	2.2%	55^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	3	1.4%	41^st
2013 Jul-Sep	200	7	3.5%	72^nd
2013 Oct-Dec	137	7	5.1%	76^th
2014 Jan-Mar	148	1	0.7%	23^rd
2014 Apr-Jun	219	25	11.4%	91^st
2014 Jul-Sep	147	5	3.4%	74^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	1	2.0%	56^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	5	3.5%	68^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	5	2.0%	66^th
2015 Jul-Sep	139	18	12.9%	94^th
2015 Oct-Dec	177	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	15	10.9%	83^rd
2016 Apr-Jun	204	3	1.5%	42^nd
2016 Jul-Sep	232	6	2.6%	73^rd
2016 Nov-Dec	48	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	208	4	1.9%	61^st
2017 Apr-Jun	136	5	3.7%	76^th
2017 Jul-Sep	199	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	16	9.6%	92^nd
2018 Jan-Mar	129	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Apr-Jun	184	38	20.7%	98^th
2018 Jul-Sep	102	4	3.9%	76^th
2018 Nov-Dec	85	47	55.3%	97^th
2019 Jan-Mar	125	4	3.2%	70^th

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

Rep. Bennie Thompson

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