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Rep. Brenda Lawrence

Representative for Michigan’s 14th District

pronounced BREN-duh // LOR-ins

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Lawrence is the representative for Michigan’s 14th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 6, 2015. Lawrence is next up for reelection in 2020.

Photo of Rep. Brenda Lawrence [D-MI14]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2018 Report Card for Lawrence.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Lawrence 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 Lawrence has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Apr 22, 2019. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

Brenda Lawrence sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Lawrence was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:

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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 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Lawrence sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Education (22%) Taxation (17%) Environmental Protection (14%) Armed Forces and National Security (14%) Government Operations and Politics (8%) Health (8%) Families (8%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (8%)

Recent Bills

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

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Lawrence’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 ...
Yea H.R. 1153: Mortgage Choice Act of 2017
Feb 8, 2018. Passed 280/131.
H.R. 1153 excludes insurance held in escrow and, under certain circumstances, fees paid to companies affiliated with the creditor from the costs that would be considered in calculating the three percent “points and fees” limitation for purposes of determine whether a mortgage can be considered ...
Yea H.R. 2396: Privacy Notification Technical Clarification Act
Dec 14, 2017. Passed 275/146.
Nay 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 ...
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 ...
Nay H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017
Sep 28, 2016. Passed 342/85.
The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations bill which extended funding at the previous year's levels up to December 9, 2016 (10 weeks). After this, a continuing ...
Aye H.R. 1599: Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015
Jul 23, 2015. Passed 275/150.
This bill was enacted as S. 764. The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the distribution and labeling related to bioengineered foods (often referred to as genetically modified foods or GMOs). It would ...
No H.R. 2146: Defending Public Safety Employees’ Retirement Act
Jun 18, 2015. Passed 218/208.
This vote made H.R. 2146 the vehicle for passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. 2146 was originally introduced as a bill to address issues with retirement funds of federal law enforcement officers and firefighters. ...
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 ...
Nay H.Res. 162: Calling on the President to provide Ukraine with military assistance to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Mar 23, 2015. Passed 348/48.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2015 to Apr 2019, Lawrence missed 58 of 2,702 roll call votes, which is 2.1%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

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