Schmitt was a senator from New Mexico and was a Republican. He served from 1977 to 1982.
![Photo of Sen. Harrison Schmitt [R-NM, 1977-1982]](/static/legislator-photos/409640-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Schmitt is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 1982 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 Schmitt sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 1977 to Dec 23, 1982. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Schmitt was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- S. 2273 (97th): An act to amend the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 to extend authorizations of appropriations, and for other purposes.
- S. 2375 (97th): An Act to extend the expiration date of the Defense Production Act of 1950.
- S. 2373 (97th): A bill to change the name of the landing strip at White Sands Missile Range in the State of New Mexico, to “White Sands Space Harbor.”
- S. 159 (97th): A bill to authorize the exchange of certain land held by the Navajo Tribe and the Bureau of Land Management, and for other purposes.
- S. 1779 (97th): A bill to authorize the exchange of certain land held in trust by the United States for the Navajo Tribe, and for other purposes.
- S. 1972 (96th): An act to authorize the secretary of the Interior to reimburse certain purchases of subleases from, and creditors of, the Sangre de Cristo Development Company, Incorporated, and …
- S. 2135 (96th): A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue certain patents under the Color of Title Act.
Does 7 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
Schmitt sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (23%) Economics and Public Finance (16%) Science, Technology, Communications (15%) Finance and Financial Sector (12%) Taxation (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%) International Affairs (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Schmitt recently introduced the following legislation:
- S.Con.Res. 130 (97th): A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of the Congress that the advancement …
- S. 3006 (97th): Schmitt-Ritter Risk Analysis Research and Demonstration Act of 1982
- S. 2941 (97th): A bill to authorize funds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration …
- S. 2940 (97th): A bill to amend titles II and III of the Marine Protection, …
- S. 2809 (97th): National Science and Technology Improvement Act of 1982
- S. 2721 (97th): A bill to establish criteria for determining election boundaries in developing census …
- S. 2693 (97th): American Eagle Gold Coin Act of 1982
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1977 to Dec 1982, Schmitt missed 241 of 3,176 roll call votes, which is 7.6%. This is on par with the median of 7.2% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 1982. 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
- 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
