Bell was the representative for Texas’s 25th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2003 to 2004.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
On Nov. 18, 2004, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigated Bell for filing a complaint against DeLay which contained innuendo, speculative assertions, or conclusory statements in violation of Committee Rule 15(a)(4) and resolved the matter by a public letter. In 2004, Bell lost in the primary election.
| Nov. 2, 2004 | Bell lost in the primary election. |
| Nov. 18, 2004 | House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct resolved the matter by a public letter |
![Photo of Rep. Chris Bell [D-TX25, 2003-2004]](/static/legislator-photos/400022-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Bell is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2004 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 Bell sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 1999 to Dec 7, 2004. See full analysis methodology.
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Bell sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (22%) Crime and Law Enforcement (17%) Law (13%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (13%) Commerce (9%) Transportation and Public Works (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Education (9%)
Recent Bills
Some of Bell’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 5138 (108th): Fair Credit Card Interest Rate Act
- H.R. 5043 (108th): Minimum Wage Indexation Act of 2004
- H.Res. 659 (108th): Recognizing the need for consistent information, regulations, and guidelines regarding the safe ...
- H.Res. 640 (108th): Of inquiry requesting that the Secretary of Defense transmit to the House ...
- H.Res. 515 (108th): Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress and the ...
- H.R. 3523 (108th): Equity in Law Enforcement Act
- H.R. 3455 (108th): To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a presumption of ...
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 2003 to Dec 2004, Bell missed 92 of 1,221 roll call votes, which is 7.5%. This is much worse than the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2004. 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
