Sen. Gordon Smith
Former Senator for Oregon
Smith was a senator from Oregon and was a Republican. He served from 1997 to 2008.
![Photo of Sen. Gordon Smith [R-OR, 1997-2008]](/static/legislator-photos/300090-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Smith is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2008 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 Smith sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 2003 to Dec 11, 2008. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Smith was the primary sponsor of 20 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3015 (110th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 18 S. G Street, Lakeview, Oregon, as the “Dr. Bernard Daly Post Office …
- S. 3194 (110th): Oregon Surplus Federal Land Act of 2008
- S. 375 (110th): A bill to waive application of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to a specific parcel of real property transferred by the United States to 2 …
- S. 1286 (110th): A bill to authorize the Coquille Indian Tribe of the State of Oregon to convey land and interests in land owned by the Tribe.
- S. 265 (110th): Little Butte/Bear Creek Subbasins Water Feasibility Act
- S. 264 (110th): Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation and Water Management Act of 2007
- S. 266 (110th): North Unit Irrigation District Act of 2007
Does 20 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
Smith sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (17%) Economics and Public Finance (15%) Taxation (14%) Commerce (12%) Health (11%) Finance and Financial Sector (11%) Social Welfare (10%) Labor and Employment (10%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Smith recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 3554 (110th): Affordable Coverage for Small Employers Act of 2008
- S.Res. 643 (110th): A resolution calling for greater dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the …
- S. 3374 (110th): Healing Our Nation’s Heroes Act of 2008
- S. 3367 (110th): A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to …
- S. 3275 (110th): Affordable Housing Preservation Act of 2008
- S. 3228 (110th): A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow …
- S. 3195 (110th): Healthy Transition Act of 2008
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1997 to Dec 2008, Smith missed 79 of 3,894 roll call votes, which is 2.0%. This is on par with the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2008. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
