Cuellar is the representative for Texas’s 28th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 4, 2005. Cuellar is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Henry Cuellar [D-TX28]](/static/legislator-photos/400657-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Cuellar 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 Cuellar has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 13, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Cuellar was the primary sponsor of 18 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 132: North American Development Bank Improvement Act of 2019
- H.R. 1210 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 122 W. Goodwin Street, Pleasanton, Texas, as the “Pleasanton Veterans Post Office”.
- H.R. 1211 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 400 N. Main Street, Encinal, Texas, as the “Encinal Veterans Post Office”.
- H.R. 1207 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 306 River Street in Tilden, Texas, as the “Tilden Veterans Post Office”.
- H.R. 1209 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 901 N. Francisco Avenue, Mission, Texas, as the “Mission Veterans Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 1208 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 9155 Schaefer Road, Converse, Texas, as the “Converse Veterans Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 4434 (115th): Fix NICS Act of 2017
Does 18 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
Cuellar sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (50%) International Affairs (28%) Crime and Law Enforcement (11%) Immigration (11%)
Recent Bills
Some of Cuellar’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 8833: To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to extend by one year ...
- H.R. 6864 (116th): Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Law Enforcement Protection Act
- H.R. 6499: To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess ...
- H.R. 2522: HUMANE Act of 2019
- H.R. 2335: Border Patrol Pay Security Act of 2019
- H.Res. 287: Condemning the President’s threat to shut down the United States-Mexico border to the ...
- H.R. 951: United States-Mexico Tourism Improvement Act of 2019
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2005 to Jan 2021, Cuellar missed 186 of 11,061 roll call votes, which is 1.7%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% 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.
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
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
