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Rep. Brian Higgins

Representative for New York’s 26th District

pronounced BRĪ-in // HIH-ginz


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 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 63 years old.

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]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 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 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 3, 2019 to Mar 27, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Brian Higgins sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Higgins was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:

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Does 5 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 (37%) Taxation (26%) Armed Forces and National Security (14%) Social Welfare (11%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%) Government Operations and Politics (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Higgins recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Higgins voted Yea

Higgins voted Yea

Passed 229/177 on May 19, 2017.

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 …

Higgins voted Yea

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.

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 …

Higgins voted Aye

Higgins voted Nay

Higgins voted Aye

Passed 215/195 on Apr 27, 2012.

Higgins voted Aye

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.

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 …

Higgins voted Yea

Passed 227/183 on Aug 4, 2007.

The Protect America Act of 2007 (PAA), (Pub.L. 110–55, 121 Stat. 552, enacted by S. 1927), is a controversial amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2005 to Mar 2023, Higgins missed 452 of 12,203 roll call votes, which is 3.7%. This is much worse than the median of 1.6% 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, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

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