Hastert was the representative for Illinois’s 14th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1987 to 2007.
Misconduct
In 2016 Hastert pleaded guilty to child molestation, 10 years after leaving Congress. In 2006, Hastert declined to run for office again. He was indicted in 2015, served 13 months in prison and was released in 2017.
| 2006 | Hastert did not seek reelection. |
| 2015 | Indicted. |
| 2016 | Pleaded guilty, served 13 months in prison. |
![Photo of Rep. Dennis “Denny” Hastert [R-IL14, 1987-2007]](/static/legislator-photos/400169-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Hastert is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2008 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 Hastert sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 2003 to Dec 10, 2008. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Hastert was the primary sponsor of 11 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 3767 (109th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2600 Oak Street in St. Charles, Illinois, as the “Jacob L. Frazier Post Office Building”.
- H.J.Res. 110 (108th): Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.
- H.R. 1 (108th): Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003
- H.J.Res. 114 (107th): Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002
- H.R. 400 (107th): To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 3392 (107th): To name the national cemetery in Saratoga, New York, as the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery, and for other purposes.
- H.J.Res. 72 (102nd): To designate December 7, 1991, as “National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day”.
Does 11 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
Hastert sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (19%) Armed Forces and National Security (19%) International Affairs (12%) Crime and Law Enforcement (12%) Commerce (9%) Social Welfare (9%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (9%) Transportation and Public Works (9%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Hastert recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.Res. 594 (109th): Honoring the 50th anniversary of the Honorable John D. Dingell’s service in …
- H.R. 3767 (109th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at …
- H.R. 10 (109th): Reserved.
- H.R. 1 (109th): Reserved.
- H.R. 7 (109th): Reserved.
- H.R. 2 (109th): Reserved.
- H.J.Res. 110 (108th): Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge during World …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1987 to Nov 2007, Hastert missed 449 of 8,181 roll call votes, which is 5.5%. This is worse than the median of 3.1% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Nov 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, major life events, and running for higher office.
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
