Obey was the representative for Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1969 to 2010.
![Photo of Rep. David “Dave” Obey [D-WI7, 1969-2010]](/static/legislator-photos/400300-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Obey is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2010 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 Obey sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2005 to Dec 21, 2010. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Obey was the primary sponsor of 33 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.J.Res. 105 (111th): Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011, and for other purposes.
- H.J.Res. 101 (111th): Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 4899 (111th): Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010
- H.R. 3435 (111th): Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2009 for the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program.
- H.R. 3293 (111th): Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2010
- H.R. 2346 (111th): Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009
- H.R. 1105 (111th): Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009
Does 33 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
Obey sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Economics and Public Finance (29%) Government Operations and Politics (16%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%) Taxation (9%) Labor and Employment (9%) Health (9%) Commerce (9%) Science, Technology, Communications (9%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Obey recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.J.Res. 105 (111th): Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011, and for other purposes.
- H.J.Res. 101 (111th): Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 4899 (111th): Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010
- H.Con.Res. 255 (111th): Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and honoring the founder of …
- H.J.Res. 64 (111th): Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2010, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 4130 (111th): Share the Sacrifice Act of 2010
- H.Con.Res. 191 (111th): Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make technical corrections …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Apr 1969 to Dec 2010, Obey missed 731 of 23,449 roll call votes, which is 3.1%. This is on par with the median of 3.1% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2010. 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
