Rep. David “Dave” Brat

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2018 Report Card for Brat.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Brat is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018 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 Brat sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Dec 21, 2018. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Brat was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:

• H.R. 2693 (114th): To designate the arboretum at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, as the “Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum”.

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Does 1 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Brat sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Immigration (21%) Economics and Public Finance (14%) Armed Forces and National Security (14%) Taxation (14%) Agriculture and Food (10%) Commerce (10%) Transportation and Public Works (10%) International Affairs (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Brat recently introduced the following legislation:

• H.R. 7298 (115th): Connect America’s Capital Act
• H.R. 7229 (115th): Student Rights Act of 2018
• H.R. 7105 (115th): Brian Tally VA Medical Care and Liability Improvement Act
• H.Res. 1112 (115th): Congratulating Mt. Zion Baptist Church upon the occasion of its 160th anniversary.
• H.R. 6862 (115th): Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act of 2018
• H.R. 6195 (115th): Protect Kids and Parents Act
• H.Res. 912 (115th): Recognizing the importance of the Chesapeake Bay and supporting the efforts and …

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Nov 2014 to Dec 2018, Brat missed 69 of 2,583 roll call votes, which is 2.7%. This is on par with the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2018. 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:

• 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