![Photo of Rep. Harold Eugene Ford [D-TN9, 1983-1996]](/static/legislator-photos/404213-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Ford is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1996 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 Ford sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1991 to Oct 3, 1996. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Ford was the primary sponsor of 8 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 1720 (100th): Family Support Act of 1988
- H.R. 5595 (99th): Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act
- H.R. 2372 (98th): A bill to recognize the organization known as the Navy Wives Clubs of America.
- H.R. 3382 (98th): A bill for the relief of Dennis L. Dalton.
- H.R. 2369 (98th): A bill to prevent the temporary termination of the Federal Supplemental Compensation Act of 1982.
- H.R. 3072 (97th): A bill to designate the control tower at Memphis International Airport the Omlie Tower.
- H.J.Res. 456 (97th): A joint resolution designating the week of November 7 through November 13, 1982, as National Respiratory Therapy Week.
Does 8 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
Ford sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (32%) Social Welfare (21%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (21%) Labor and Employment (16%) Education (11%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Ford recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5643 (102nd): Customs Modernization and Informed Compliance Act
- H.R. 4252 (102nd): To provide for a 3-year extension of a certain medicaid health maintenance …
- H.R. 2170 (102nd): To extend until September 30, 1992, the existing suspensions of duty on …
- H.R. 995 (102nd): Jobs for Public Housing Residents Act of 1991
- H.R. 763 (102nd): Chance to Go to College Act
- H.R. 5859 (101st): Chance to Go to College Act
- H.R. 5860 (101st): Jobs for Public Housing Residents Act of 1990
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1975 to Sep 1996, Ford missed 2,301 of 11,934 roll call votes, which is 19.3%. This is much worse than the median of 2.7% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Sep 1996. 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
