Cleaver is the representative for Missouri’s 5th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 4, 2005. Cleaver is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver [D-MO5]](/static/legislator-photos/400639-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Cleaver.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Cleaver is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives 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 Cleaver has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jun 15, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Emanuel Cleaver II sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Cleaver was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 4104 (116th): Negro Leagues Baseball Centennial Commemorative Coin Act
- H.R. 1454 (113th): To make supplemental agricultural disaster assistance available for fiscal years 2012 and 2013, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 6198 (110th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1700 Cleveland Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, as the “Reverend Earl Abel Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 3572 (110th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4320 Blue Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri, as the “Wallace S. Hartsfield Post Office Building”.
Does 4 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
Cleaver sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Finance and Financial Sector (33%) Housing and Community Development (17%) Health (12%) Transportation and Public Works (12%) Government Operations and Politics (8%) International Affairs (8%) Education (8%)
Recent Bills
Some of Cleaver’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 3243: Pipeline Security Act
- H.R. 2874: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of ...
- H.R. 2768: American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2021
- H.R. 2572: Stop Debt Collection Abuse Act of 2021
- H.R. 2553: Real Estate Valuation Fairness and Improvement Act of 2021
- H.R. 1877: Security Screening During COVID–19 Act
- H.R. 1682: Stabilizing Rural Homeowners During COVID Act of 2021
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2005 to Jun 2021, Cleaver missed 623 of 11,214 roll call votes, which is 5.6%. This is much worse than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. 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
