Rep. James A. “Jim” Leach

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Leach is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2006 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 Leach sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2001 to Dec 8, 2006. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Leach was the primary sponsor of 16 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• H.R. 4011 (108th): North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004
• H.J.Res. 63 (108th): Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003
• H.R. 3656 (107th): To amend the International Organizations Immunities Act to provide for the applicability of that Act to the European Central Bank.
• H.R. 5640 (106th): American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act of 2000
• H.R. 3519 (106th): Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000
• H.R. 3544 (106th): Pope John Paul II Congressional Gold Medal Act
• H.R. 3373 (106th): To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in conjunction with the minting of coins by the Republic of Iceland in commemoration of the millennium …

View All »

Does 16 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Leach sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (21%) Commerce (14%) Economics and Public Finance (14%) International Affairs (13%) Law (11%) Finance and Financial Sector (10%) Crime and Law Enforcement (9%) Science, Technology, Communications (8%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Leach recently introduced the following legislation:

• H.Res. 954 (109th): Urging the President to appoint a Special Envoy for Middle East Peace.
• H.Con.Res. 409 (109th): Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the ascension to the throne of His …
• H.R. 5281 (109th): Campaign Reform Act of 2006
• H.R. 4819 (109th): PAC Elimination Act
• H.R. 4411 (109th): Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act
• H.Res. 489 (109th): Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the National Audubon Society.
• H.R. 3882 (109th): Financial Safety and Equity Act of 2005

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1977 to Dec 2006, Leach missed 630 of 16,493 roll call votes, which is 3.8%. This is worse than the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2006. 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.

Show the numbers...

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
• Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills