Ramstad was the representative for Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1991 to 2008.
![Photo of Rep. James “Jim” Ramstad [R-MN3, 1991-2008]](/static/legislator-photos/400332-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Ramstad is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2008 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 Ramstad sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 2003 to Dec 10, 2008. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Ramstad was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 7082 (110th): Inmate Tax Fraud Prevention Act of 2008
- H.R. 5207 (107th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6101 West Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington, Minnesota, as the “Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. Post …
- H.R. 4156 (107th): Clergy Housing Allowance Clarification Act of 2002
- H.R. 1727 (107th): Fallen Hero Survivor Benefit Fairness Act of 2001
- H.R. 1031 (104th): For the relief of Oscar Salas-Velazquez.
Does 5 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
Ramstad sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Foreign Trade and International Finance (15%) Government Operations and Politics (15%) Law (14%) Taxation (13%) Health (12%) Social Welfare (12%) Families (10%) Labor and Employment (10%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Ramstad recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 7082 (110th): Inmate Tax Fraud Prevention Act of 2008
- H.R. 6243 (110th): Ambulance Fuel Tax Relief Act of 2008
- H.R. 6172 (110th): Crime Victim Restitution and Court Fee Intercept Act
- H.R. 4976 (110th): To extend the temporary suspension of duty on certain cathode-ray tubes.
- H.R. 4980 (110th): To extend the temporary suspension of duty on THV.
- H.R. 4978 (110th): To extend the temporary suspension of duty on a certain specialty monomer.
- H.R. 4979 (110th): To extend the temporary suspension of duty on an ultraviolet dye.
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1991 to Dec 2008, Ramstad missed 108 of 11,102 roll call votes, which is 1.0%. This is better than the median of 3.1% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2008. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
