Stearns was the representative for Florida’s 6th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1989 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Clifford “Cliff” Stearns [R-FL6, 1989-2012]](/static/legislator-photos/400388-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Stearns is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2013 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 Stearns sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 1, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Stearns was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 4132 (112th): FAST Act
- H.R. 2023 (108th): Asthmatic Schoolchildren’s Treatment and Health Management Act of 2004
- H.R. 727 (107th): To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to provide that low-speed electric bicycles are consumer products subject to such Act.
- H.R. 2498 (106th): Public Health Improvement Act
- H.R. 2116 (106th): Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act
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
Stearns sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (26%) Armed Forces and National Security (17%) Taxation (14%) Science, Technology, Communications (12%) International Affairs (12%) Arts, Culture, Religion (10%) Crime and Law Enforcement (5%) Commerce (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Stearns’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.Res. 845 (112th): Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a standing ...
- H.R. 4817 (112th): Efficient Use of Government Spectrum Act of 2012
- H.Res. 611 (112th): Promoting global energy supply security through increased cooperation among the United States, ...
- H.R. 4132 (112th): FAST Act
- H.R. 3737 (112th): ULTRA
- H.R. 3586 (112th): Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act of 2011
- H.R. 3474 (112th): PRIME Act of 2011
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1989 to Jan 2013, Stearns missed 213 of 15,267 roll call votes, which is 1.4%. This is better than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jan 2013. 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
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
