Loebsack was the representative for Iowa’s 2nd congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2007 to 2020.
![Photo of Rep. David Loebsack [D-IA2, 2007-2020]](/static/legislator-photos/412209-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Loebsack.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Loebsack is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2020 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 Loebsack sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Dec 28, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Loebsack was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 4229 (116th): Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act
- H.R. 4607 (111th): Healthy Food for Healthy Schools Act of 2010
- H.R. 6587 (110th): Midwestern Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008
Does 3 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
Loebsack sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Education (30%) Health (26%) Armed Forces and National Security (16%) Science, Technology, Communications (9%) Labor and Employment (9%) Energy (5%) Emergency Management (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Loebsack’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.Res. 1218 (116th): Expressing support for the designation of the week beginning on November 9, ...
- H.Res. 692 (116th): Expressing support for the designation of the week beginning on November 11, ...
- H.R. 4229 (116th): Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act
- H.R. 3762 (116th): DOC Access Act of 2019
- H.R. 3322 (116th): Renew America’s Schools Act of 2019
- H.R. 3278 (116th): Connect America Act of 2019
- H.R. 3235 (116th): Access to Genetic Counselor Services Act of 2019
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2007 to Dec 2020, Loebsack missed 217 of 9,830 roll call votes, which is 2.2%. This is on par with the median of 2.3% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2020. 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
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
