Rep. James Comer
Representative for Kentucky’s 1st District
pronounced jaymz // KOH-mer
![Photo of Rep. James Comer [R-KY1]](/static/legislator-photos/412676-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Comer proposed $25 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $12 million to Henderson City-County Airport for “Henderson Airport Runway Extension”
- $5 million to Franklin County Fiscal Court for “Farmdale Sanitation District Interceptor Sewer System - Phase I”
- $2.0 million to Crittenden Livingston Counties Water District for “Crittenden-Livingston Counties Water District Expansion - Phase I”
View all requests and justifications on Comer’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Comer.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Comer 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 Comer has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 26, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
James Comer sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Comer was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 7399 (117th): LBL Recreation and Heritage Act
- H.R. 26 (117th): Construction Consensus Procurement Improvement Act of 2021
- H.R. 5485 (115th): Hemp Farming Act of 2018
Does 3 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
Comer sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (81%) Transportation and Public Works (10%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Comer recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 4984: D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act
- H.R. 2826: Save Local Business Act
- H.R. 1209: FOCA Act
- H.Res. 155: Providing amounts for the expenses of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in …
- H.R. 890: Guidance Out Of Darkness Act
- H.J.Res. 24: Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Local …
- H.J.Res. 17: Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Local …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Nov 2016 to Sep 2023, Comer missed 25 of 3,664 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 1.8% 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, 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
- Office of James Comer for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
