Boucher was the representative for Virginia’s 9th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1983 to 2010.
![Photo of Rep. Frederick “Rick” Boucher [D-VA9, 1983-2010]](/static/legislator-photos/400043-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Boucher 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 Boucher sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2005 to Dec 21, 2010. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Boucher was the primary sponsor of 14 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 2994 (111th): Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act of 2009
- H.R. 4118 (110th): To exclude from gross income payments from the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to the victims of the tragic event at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University.
- H.R. 5061 (109th): Paint Bank and Wytheville National Fish Hatcheries Conveyance Act
- H.R. 5103 (109th): To provide for the conveyance of the former Konnarock Lutheran Girls School in Smyth County, Virginia, which is currently owned by the United States and administered by …
- H.J.Res. 166 (104th): Granting the consent of Congress to the Mutual Aid Agreement between the city of Bristol, Virginia, and the city of Bristol, Tennessee.
- H.R. 3485 (103rd): An act to authorize appropriations for carrying out the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 for fiscal years 1995 and 1996.
- H.R. 1727 (103rd): Arson Prevention Act of 1994
Does 14 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
Boucher sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (19%) Science, Technology, Communications (16%) Commerce (16%) Law (12%) Energy (11%) Economics and Public Finance (10%) Education (9%) Environmental Protection (8%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Boucher recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5947 (111th): Voluntary Incentive Auctions Act of 2010
- H.R. 5828 (111th): Universal Service Reform Act of 2010
- H.R. 5649 (111th): Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act of 2010
- H.Res. 1182 (111th): Congratulating Radford University on the 100th anniversary of the university.
- H.R. 4175 (111th): End Discriminatory State Taxes for Automobile Renters Act of 2009
- H.R. 2994 (111th): Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act of 2009
- H.R. 2584 (111th): To amend title 35, United States Code, to limit the patentability of …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1983 to Dec 2010, Boucher missed 976 of 16,396 roll call votes, which is 6.0%. This is much worse than 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, 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
