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Rep. Gary Palmer

House Republican Policy Committee Chair and Representative for Alabama’s 6th District

pronounced GAR-ee // PAH-mer

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Palmer is the representative for Alabama’s 6th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 6, 2015. Palmer is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

He is also House Republican Policy Committee Chair, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.

Palmer is among the Republican legislators who participated in the months-long, multifarious attempted coup following the 2020 presidential election. Shortly after the election, Palmer joined a case before the Supreme Court calling for all the votes for president in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — states that were narrowly won by Democrats — to be discarded, in order to change the outcome of the election, based on lies and a preposterous legal argument which the Supreme Court rejected. (Following the rejection of several related cases before the Supreme Court, another legislator who joined the case called for violence.) On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the insurrection at the Capitol, Palmer voted to reject the state-certified election results of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania (states narrowly won by Democrats), which could have changed the outcome of the election. These legislators have generally changed their story after their vote, claiming it was merely a protest and not intended to change the outcome of the election as they clearly sought prior to the vote. The January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol disrupted Congress’s count of electors that determined the outcome of the presidential election with the goal to prevent President Joe Biden from taking office.
Photo of Rep. Gary Palmer [R-AL6]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Palmer 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 Palmer has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to May 16, 2022. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Gary Palmer sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Palmer was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:

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Does 2 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

Palmer sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (50%) Health (21%) Transportation and Public Works (14%) International Affairs (14%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Palmer recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As House Republican Policy Committee Chair, Palmer may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Palmer voted Nay

Palmer voted Yea

Passed 327/85 on Dec 21, 2020.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a major government funding bill, which also included economic stimulus provisions due …

Palmer voted Yea

Palmer voted Nay

Passed 361/61 on Sep 26, 2018.
H.R. 6157 provides $674.6 billion in total discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The bill provides $606.5 billion …

Palmer voted Nay

Passed 382/19 on Jun 20, 2017.
H.R. 2866 reviews and improves licensing standards for placement in a relative foster family home. This bill would require HHS to identify reputable model standards …

Palmer voted No

Passed 360/61 on Dec 8, 2016.
The WIIN (Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation) Act was a 277-page bill dealing with federal water policies, particularly for drought-stricken areas. It’s so complex …

Palmer voted Nay

Palmer voted No

Palmer voted No

Passed 218/208 on Jun 18, 2015.
This vote made H.R. 2146 the vehicle for passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. …

Palmer voted Yea

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.
The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of …

Palmer voted Nay

Missed Votes

From Jan 2015 to May 2022, Palmer missed 53 of 4,145 roll call votes, which is 1.3%. This is better than the median of 2.1% 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.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: