Rep. James “Jim” McGovern

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for McGovern.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

McGovern 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 McGovern has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 29, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

James “Jim” McGovern sits on the following committees:

• House Committee on Rules Ranking Member
• House Committee on Agriculture

Enacted Legislation

McGovern was the primary sponsor of 14 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• H.R. 6256 (117th): To ensure that goods made with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China do not enter the United States market, …
• H.R. 6251 (117th): Food Donation Improvement Act of 2021
• H.R. 2495 (117th): For the relief of Irida Kakhtiranova.
• H.R. 4331 (116th): Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2019
• H.R. 1872 (115th): Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018
• H.R. 3105 (115th): Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act
• H.R. 4405 (112th): Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012

View All »

Does 14 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

McGovern sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

International Affairs (41%) Health (20%) Agriculture and Food (15%) Transportation and Public Works (7%) Private Legislation (7%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

McGovern recently introduced the following legislation:

• H.R. 1269: Healthy Meals Help Kids Learn Act of 2023
• H.R. 1312: Deerfield River Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2023
• H.Res. 152: Supporting the goals and ideals of “move over” laws.
• H.R. 805: Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act of 2023
• H.Res. 77: Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear …
• H.R. 533: Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act
• H.Res. 1531 (117th): Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the House amendment to …

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 1997 to Mar 2023, McGovern missed 242 of 16,842 roll call votes, which is 1.4%. This is on par with the median of 1.6% 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.

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
• GPO Member Guide for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills