Giffords was the representative for Arizona’s 8th congressional district and was a Democrat. She served from 2007 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords [D-AZ8, 2007-2012]](/static/legislator-photos/412188-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Giffords is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2013 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 Giffords sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 1, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Giffords was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:
Does 1 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
Giffords sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Armed Forces and National Security (19%) Government Operations and Politics (15%) Taxation (14%) Immigration (12%) Finance and Financial Sector (10%) Economics and Public Finance (10%) Law (10%) Education (10%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Giffords recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 3801 (112th): Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012
- H.R. 204 (112th): Congressional Pay Cut Act
- H.R. 6272 (111th): Servicemember Homeowner Assistance Program Extension Act
- H.R. 6279 (111th): National Guard and Reserve Soft Landing Reintegration Act
- H.R. 6231 (111th): American Jobs Through Exports Act of 2010
- H.Res. 1670 (111th): Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to legislation …
- H.R. 6146 (111th): Warrior Home Loan Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2007 to Jan 2012, Giffords missed 1,027 of 4,490 roll call votes, which is 22.9%. This is much worse than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jan 2012. 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
