Rep. Floyd Spence

Former Representative for South Carolina’s 2^nd District

Spence was the representative for South Carolina’s 2^nd congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1971 to 2001.

Bioguide

Photo of Rep. Floyd Spence [R-SC2, 1971-2001]

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Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Spence is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2002 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 Spence sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 1997 to Nov 19, 2002. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Spence was the primary sponsor of 17 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 17 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Spence sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Foreign Trade and International Finance (18%) Commerce (16%) Science, Technology, Communications (14%) Armed Forces and National Security (12%) Arts, Culture, Religion (11%) International Affairs (10%) Government Operations and Politics (10%) Transportation and Public Works (9%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Spence recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1971 to Aug 2001, Spence missed 840 of 16,394 roll call votes, which is 5.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.8% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Aug 2001. 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1971 Jan-Mar	22	2	9.1%	11^th
1971 Apr-Jun	90	14	15.6%	56^th
1971 Jul-Sep	74	3	4.1%	44^th
1971 Oct-Dec	134	26	19.4%	67^th
1972 Jan-Mar	64	10	15.6%	67^th
1972 Apr-Jun	114	8	7.0%	22^nd
1972 Jul-Sep	101	18	17.8%	67^th
1972 Oct-Oct	50	0	0.0%	0^th
1973 Jan-Mar	36	1	2.8%	21^st
1973 Apr-Jun	191	14	7.3%	47^th
1973 Jul-Sep	131	0	0.0%	0^th
1973 Oct-Dec	182	5	2.7%	26^th
1974 Jan-Mar	79	3	3.8%	26^th
1974 Apr-Jun	170	9	5.3%	37^th
1974 Jul-Sep	148	8	5.4%	47^th
1974 Oct-Dec	141	4	2.8%	21^st
1975 Jan-Mar	68	5	7.4%	72^nd
1975 Apr-Jun	199	1	0.5%	7^th
1975 Jul-Sep	154	6	3.9%	28^th
1975 Oct-Dec	191	4	2.1%	24^th
1976 Jan-Mar	106	2	1.9%	14^th
1976 Apr-Jun	267	10	3.7%	20^th
1976 Jul-Sep	281	11	3.9%	37^th
1976 Oct-Oct	7	0	0.0%	0^th
1977 Jan-Mar	100	0	0.0%	0^th
1977 Apr-Jun	273	33	12.1%	69^th
1977 Jul-Sep	198	8	4.0%	38^th
1977 Oct-Dec	135	1	0.7%	15^th
1978 Jan-Mar	150	10	6.7%	44^th
1978 Apr-Jun	300	0	0.0%	0^th
1978 Jul-Sep	308	7	2.3%	21^st
1978 Oct-Oct	76	2	2.6%	28^th
1979 Jan-Mar	63	0	0.0%	0^th
1979 Apr-Jun	221	0	0.0%	0^th
1979 Jul-Sep	198	0	0.0%	0^th
1979 Oct-Dec	190	3	1.6%	6^th
1980 Jan-Mar	148	15	10.1%	62^nd
1980 Apr-Jun	197	1	0.5%	4^th
1980 Jul-Sep	192	0	0.0%	0^th
1980 Oct-Dec	67	0	0.0%	0^th
1981 Jan-Mar	15	0	0.0%	0^th
1981 Apr-Jun	90	0	0.0%	0^th
1981 Jul-Sep	106	0	0.0%	0^th
1981 Oct-Dec	142	1	0.7%	8^th
1982 Feb-Mar	48	2	4.2%	40^th
1982 Apr-Jun	119	2	1.7%	21^st
1982 Jul-Sep	193	2	1.0%	8^th
1982 Oct-Dec	99	1	1.0%	10^th
1983 Jan-Mar	43	1	2.3%	12^th
1983 Apr-Jun	182	2	1.1%	8^th
1983 Jul-Sep	130	5	3.8%	49^th
1983 Oct-Nov	143	4	2.8%	23^rd
1984 Jan-Mar	53	2	3.8%	36^th
1984 Apr-Jun	223	11	4.9%	39^th
1984 Jul-Sep	96	0	0.0%	0^th
1984 Oct-Oct	36	2	5.6%	47^th
1985 Jan-Mar	36	1	2.8%	19^th
1985 Apr-Jun	154	3	1.9%	20^th
1985 Jul-Sep	101	0	0.0%	0^th
1985 Oct-Dec	148	1	0.7%	13^th
1986 Jan-Mar	61	1	1.6%	19^th
1986 Apr-Jun	128	0	0.0%	0^th
1986 Jul-Sep	202	9	4.5%	60^th
1986 Oct-Oct	60	0	0.0%	0^th
1987 Jan-Mar	39	6	15.4%	84^th
1987 Apr-Jun	187	4	2.1%	34^th
1987 Jul-Sep	95	23	24.2%	98^th
1987 Oct-Dec	167	29	17.4%	94^th
1988 Feb-Mar	49	2	4.1%	42^nd
1988 Apr-Jun	161	109	67.7%	99^th
1988 Jul-Sep	152	94	61.8%	99^th
1988 Oct-Oct	89	1	1.1%	42^nd
1989 Jan-Mar	14	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Apr-Jun	105	6	5.7%	73^rd
1989 Jul-Sep	128	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Oct-Nov	121	3	2.5%	35^th
1990 Jan-Mar	60	2	3.3%	57^th
1990 Apr-Jun	150	1	0.7%	18^th
1990 Jul-Sep	183	4	2.2%	45^th
1990 Oct-Oct	143	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Jan-Mar	62	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Apr-Jun	139	32	23.0%	98^th
1991 Jul-Sep	81	5	6.2%	70^th
1991 Oct-Nov	162	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Jan-Mar	66	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Apr-Jun	185	2	1.1%	21^st
1992 Jul-Sep	196	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Oct-Oct	41	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Jan-Mar	127	1	0.8%	27^th
1993 Apr-Jun	190	6	3.2%	57^th
1993 Jul-Sep	164	2	1.2%	39^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	0	0.0%	0^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	1	1.1%	21^st
1994 Apr-Jun	219	3	1.4%	40^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	6	4.2%	68^th
1994 Oct-Nov	51	0	0.0%	0^th
1995 Jan-Mar	279	1	0.4%	18^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	2	1.1%	33^rd
1995 Jul-Sep	232	7	3.0%	68^th
1995 Oct-Dec	185	5	2.7%	61^st
1996 Jan-Mar	110	3	2.7%	60^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	0	0.0%	0^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	1	0.6%	21^st
1997 Jan-Mar	71	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Jul-Sep	232	3	1.3%	40^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	2	1.2%	30^th
1998 Jan-Mar	89	1	1.1%	27^th
1998 Apr-Jun	185	3	1.6%	45^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	1	0.5%	19^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	0	0.0%	0^th
1999 Jan-Mar	77	4	5.2%	78^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	1	0.5%	16^th
1999 Jul-Sep	204	1	0.5%	22^nd
1999 Oct-Nov	146	4	2.7%	52^nd
2000 Jan-Mar	95	31	32.6%	98^th
2000 Apr-Jun	277	10	3.6%	62^nd
2000 Jul-Sep	130	2	1.5%	43^rd
2000 Oct-Dec	101	9	8.9%	61^st
2001 Jan-Mar	75	0	0.0%	0^th
2001 Apr-Jun	135	5	3.7%	67^th
2001 Jul-Sep	122	108	88.5%	100^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
Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills