Edward “Ed” Markey, Senator for Massachusetts

Markey is the junior senator from Massachusetts and is a Democrat. He has served since Jul 16, 2013. Markey is next up for reelection in 2020.

He was previously the representative for Massachusetts’s 5^th congressional district as a Democrat from 2013 to 2013; and the representative for Massachusetts’s 7^th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 to 2012.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2017 Report Card for Markey.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Markey is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate 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 Markey has sponsored and cosponsored. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Human Rights Campaign: 100% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 100% League of Conservation Voters: 98% American Civil Liberties Union: 94% NIAC Action: A The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: C+ United States Chamber of Commerce: 25% The Club for Growth: 13% NumbersUSA: 11% Americans for Prosperity: 4% FreedomWorks: 0%

Committee Membership

Edward “Ed” Markey sits on the following committees:

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness
- Member, Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
- Member, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet
- Member, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security
- Member, Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
- Ranking Member, Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy
- Member, Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation
- Member, Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
- Member, Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
- Member, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife
- Member, Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Enacted Legislation

Markey was the primary sponsor of 26 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

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

Markey sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (21%) Energy (21%) International Affairs (14%) Transportation and Public Works (14%) Crime and Law Enforcement (10%) Taxation (8%) Armed Forces and National Security (7%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%)

Recent Bills

Some of Markey’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Markey’s Vote	Vote Description
Nay	H.R. 1625: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 Mar 23, 2018. Motion Agreed to 65/32. This bill became the vehicle for passage of the government spending bill for the remainder of fiscal year 2018. On March 22, 2018, the House replaced the text of the bill with the spending bill (preprint text). ---- This bill was formerly the TARGET Act. ...
Nay	H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 Sep 28, 2016. Bill Passed 72/26.
Nay	S. 2943: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 Jun 14, 2016. Bill Passed 85/13.
Yea	H.R. 22: Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act Dec 3, 2015. Conference Report Agreed to 83/16. H.R 22, formerly the Hire More Heroes Act, has become the Senate’s vehicle for passage of the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act or DRIVE Act (S. 1647). The DRIVE Act is a major bipartisan transportation bill that would authorize funding ...
Nay	H.R. 22: Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act Jul 30, 2015. Bill Passed 65/34. This vote turned H.R 22, originally the Hire More Heroes Act, into the Senate’s vehicle for passage of the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act or DRIVE Act (S. 1647), a major bipartisan transportation bill, and the Export-Import Bank Reform and ...
Not Voting	H.R. 1947 (113th): Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 Jun 20, 2013. Failed 195/234.
No	H.R. 6233 (112th): Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2012 Aug 2, 2012. Passed 223/197.
No	H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act Jun 23, 2011. Passed 304/117. The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant change to the U.S. patent system since 1952, and ...
Nay	H.R. 1363 (112th): Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Amendments, 2011 Apr 9, 2011. Passed 348/70.
No	H.R. 2965 (111th): Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 Jul 8, 2009. Passed 386/41. The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (H.R. 2965, S. 4023) is a landmark United States federal statute enacted in December 2010 that established a process for ending the Don't ask, don't tell (DADT) policy (10 U.S.C. § 654), thus allowing gays, lesbians, ...

Missed Votes

From Jul 2013 to Jul 2018, Markey missed 23 of 1,471 roll call votes, which is 1.6%. This is on par with the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2013 Jul-Sep	39	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Oct-Dec	80	1	1.3%	49^th
2014 Jan-Mar	93	1	1.1%	49^th
2014 Apr-Jun	123	9	7.3%	79^th
2014 Jul-Sep	54	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Nov-Dec	96	1	1.0%	50^th
2015 Jan-Mar	135	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Apr-Jun	85	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jul-Sep	52	7	13.5%	91^st
2015 Oct-Dec	67	1	1.5%	47^th
2016 Jan-Mar	38	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Apr-Jun	79	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Jul-Sep	34	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Nov-Dec	12	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	101	1	1.0%	64^th
2017 Apr-Jun	54	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jul-Sep	53	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Oct-Dec	117	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Jan-Mar	63	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Apr-Jun	80	2	2.5%	64^th
2018 Jul-Jul	16	0	0.0%	0^th

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
GPO Member Guide for the photo
GPO.gov/FDSys, for sponsored bills

Edward “Ed” Markey is pronounced:

ED-werd // MAR-kee

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In
AR ar	bar
D d	day
E e	bed
EE ee	meet
ER er	her
K k	king
M m	man
W w	will

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Sen. Edward “Ed” Markey

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