![Photo of Sen. Craig Thomas [R-WY, 1995-2007]](/static/legislator-photos/300097-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Thomas is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2008 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 Thomas sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 2003 to Dec 11, 2008. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Thomas was the primary sponsor of 20 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 277 (110th): Grand Teton National Park Extension Act of 2007
- S. 203 (109th): National Heritage Areas Act of 2006
- S. 244 (109th): A bill to extend the deadline for commencement of construction of a hydroelectric project in the State of Wyoming.
- S. 592 (109th): Glendo Unit of the Missouri River Basin Project Contract Extension Act of 2005
- S. 2603 (109th): Soda Ash Royalty Reduction Act of 2006
- S. 273 (108th): Grand Teton National Park Land Exchange Act
- S. 1894 (106th): A bill to provide for the conveyance of certain land to Park County, Wyoming.
Does 20 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
Thomas sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (18%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (18%) Law (13%) Commerce (13%) Environmental Protection (11%) Economics and Public Finance (10%) Finance and Financial Sector (9%) Energy (8%)
Recent Bills
Some of Thomas’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 1443 (110th): Clean, Affordable, and Domestic Fuels for Energy Security Act of 2007
- S. 1442 (110th): Shadow Wolves Apprehension and Tracking Act of 2007
- S. 1281 (110th): Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act of 2008
- S.Res. 130 (110th): A resolution designating July 28, 2007, as “National Day of the American ...
- S. 921 (110th): Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2007
- S. 658 (110th): Endangered Species Reform Act of 2007
- S. 603 (110th): A bill for the relief of Ashley Ross Fuller.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1995 to May 2007, Thomas missed 110 of 4,337 roll call votes, which is 2.5%. This is on par with the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of senators serving in May 2007. 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
