Higgins is the representative for New York’s 26th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Higgins is next up for reelection in 2020 and serves until Jan 3, 2021 unless re-elected.
He was previously the representative for New York’s 27th congressional district as a Democrat from 2005 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Brian Higgins [D-NY26]](/static/legislator-photos/400641-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 Report Card for Higgins.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Higgins 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 Higgins has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Jul 2, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Brian Higgins sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Higgins was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 3556 (112th): To designate the new United States courthouse in Buffalo, New York, as the “Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse”.
- H.R. 918 (111th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 300 East 3rd Street in Jamestown, New York, as the “Stan Lundine Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 6318 (110th): To designate a portion of United States Route 20A, located in Orchard Park, New York, as the “Timothy J. Russert Highway”.
- H.R. 3339 (109th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2061 South Park Avenue in Buffalo, New York, as the “James T. Molloy Post Office ...
Does 4 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
Higgins sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (26%) Armed Forces and National Security (22%) Taxation (22%) Social Welfare (11%) Transportation and Public Works (11%) International Affairs (7%)
Recent Bills
Some of Higgins’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 6762: COVID-19 Earned Income Act
- H.R. 5958: Senior Health Planning Account Act
- H.R. 5851: 2019 ESOP Fairness Act
- H.R. 5351: Short Sea Shipping Act of 2019
- H.R. 5237: Purple Heart Flag Act
- H.R. 4276: Border Officers Utilization for National Defense Act of 2019
- H.R. 3905: Social Security Administration Accountability Act of 2019
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2005 to Jul 2020, Higgins missed 442 of 10,924 roll call votes, which is 4.0%. This is worse than the median of 2.2% 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 and major life events.
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
