Brian Higgins, Representative for New York's 26th Congressional District

Higgins is the representative for New York’s 26^th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Higgins is next up for reelection in 2018.

He was previously the representative for New York’s 27^th congressional district as a Democrat from 2005 to 2012.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2017 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. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Human Rights Campaign: 100% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 100% League of Conservation Voters: 95% American Civil Liberties Union: 94% NIAC Action: A The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: B United States Chamber of Commerce: 48% NumbersUSA: 23% Americans for Prosperity: 5% FreedomWorks: 5% The Club for Growth: 4%

Committee Membership

Brian Higgins sits on the following committees:

House Committee on the Budget
House Committee on Ways and Means
- Member, Subcommittee on Health
- Member, Subcommittee on Trade

Enacted Legislation

Higgins was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:

View All »

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

Higgins sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (30%) Health (22%) International Affairs (11%) Transportation and Public Works (11%) Social Welfare (11%) Government Operations and Politics (7%) Law (7%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Higgins’s Vote	Vote Description
Nay	H.R. 2842: Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act Jun 23, 2017. Passed 377/34. H.R. 2842 connects low-income Americans looking for work with employers looking to fill job openings, including through apprenticeships and other forms of on-the-job training. Specifically, the legislation provides funding for states to subsidize employment for a limited time for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) ...
Yea	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 ...
Aye	H.Res. 937: Providing for consideration of the conference report to accompany the bill (S. 2943) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities of the Department ... Dec 1, 2016. Passed 277/139.
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 ...
Aye	H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015 Sep 17, 2014. Passed 319/108.
Aye	H.R. 4628 (112th): Interest Rate Reduction Act Apr 27, 2012. Passed 215/195.
Aye	H.R. 3521 (112th): Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2012 Feb 8, 2012. Passed 254/173.
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 change to the U.S. patent system since 1952, and ...
No	H.R. 1908 (110th): Patent Reform Act of 2007 Sep 7, 2007. Passed 220/175.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2005 to Sep 2018, Higgins missed 427 of 9,984 roll call votes, which is 4.3%. This is worse than the median of 2.4% 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
2005 Jan-Mar	90	4	4.4%	64^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	12	4.4%	70^th
2005 Jul-Sep	146	4	2.7%	62^nd
2005 Oct-Dec	163	4	2.5%	46^th
2006 Jan-Mar	81	1	1.2%	38^th
2006 Apr-Jun	276	8	2.9%	62^nd
2006 Jul-Sep	159	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Nov-Dec	27	9	33.3%	96^th
2007 Jan-Mar	213	13	6.1%	88^th
2007 Apr-Jun	393	35	8.9%	93^rd
2007 Jul-Sep	317	30	9.5%	96^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	19	7.2%	82^nd
2008 Jan-Mar	149	4	2.7%	42^nd
2008 Apr-Jun	321	32	10.0%	89^th
2008 Jul-Sep	205	1	0.5%	15^th
2008 Oct-Dec	15	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	2	1.1%	36^th
2009 Apr-Jun	303	11	3.6%	71^st
2009 Jul-Sep	268	11	4.1%	80^th
2009 Oct-Dec	246	10	4.1%	69^th
2010 Jan-Mar	195	15	7.7%	85^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	21	9.6%	90^th
2010 Jul-Sep	151	11	7.3%	85^th
2010 Nov-Dec	99	1	1.0%	21^st
2011 Jan-Mar	212	2	0.9%	45^th
2011 Apr-Jun	281	7	2.5%	69^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	4	1.6%	54^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	8	3.8%	69^th
2012 Jan-Mar	151	1	0.7%	24^th
2012 Apr-Jun	299	2	0.7%	34^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	4	2.6%	65^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	6	11.8%	87^th
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	11	5.1%	80^th
2013 Jul-Sep	200	21	10.5%	93^rd
2013 Oct-Dec	137	32	23.4%	99^th
2014 Jan-Mar	148	1	0.7%	23^rd
2014 Apr-Jun	219	1	0.5%	24^th
2014 Jul-Sep	147	1	0.7%	28^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jan-Mar	139	6	4.3%	79^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	2	0.8%	41^st
2015 Jul-Sep	139	4	2.9%	73^rd
2015 Oct-Dec	177	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	8	5.8%	68^th
2016 Apr-Jun	204	7	3.4%	65^th
2016 Jul-Sep	232	2	0.9%	42^nd
2016 Nov-Dec	48	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	208	10	4.8%	83^rd
2017 Apr-Jun	136	11	8.1%	91^st
2017 Jul-Sep	199	5	2.5%	76^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	1	0.6%	24^th
2018 Jan-Mar	129	9	7.0%	78^th
2018 Apr-Jun	184	3	1.6%	35^th
2018 Jul-Sep	86	0	0.0%	0^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

Brian Higgins is pronounced:

BRĪ-in // HI-ginz

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In
B b	bat
G g	get
H h	hat
I i	pin
Ī ī	eye
N n	not
R r	rag
Z z	zebra

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Rep. Brian Higgins

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