Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2018 Report Card for Sensenbrenner.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Sensenbrenner 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 liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Sensenbrenner has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to May 22, 2019. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

James Sensenbrenner Jr. sits on the following committees:

• House Committee on the Judiciary
  • Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law
  • Member, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security
• House Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Member, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations
  • Member, Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment

Enacted Legislation

Sensenbrenner was the primary sponsor of 43 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• H.R. 6896: United States Parole Commission Extension Act of 2018
• H.R. 4447: CyberTipline Modernization Act of 2017
• H.R. 510: Rapid DNA Act of 2017
• H.R. 2899: Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 2017
• H.R. 5046 (114th): Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016
• H.R. 1428 (114th): Judicial Redress Act of 2015
• H.R. 2048 (114th): USA FREEDOM Act of 2015

View All »

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

Sensenbrenner sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Crime and Law Enforcement (34%) Taxation (18%) Health (12%) Immigration (12%) Environmental Protection (7%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (7%) Government Operations and Politics (5%) International Affairs (5%)

Recent Bills

Some of Sensenbrenner’s most recently sponsored bills include...

• H.R. 2935: To amend the Controlled Substances Act to list fentanyl-related substances as schedule I ...
• H.R. 2835: To amend title 18, United States Code, to reform certain forfeiture procedures, and ...
• H.R. 2408: Ensuring Access to Quality Complex Rehabilitation Technology Act of 2019
• H.R. 2090: National Scenic Trails Parity Act
• H.R. 1933: Online Sales Simplicity and Small Business Relief Act of 2019
• H.R. 1799: Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2019
• H.R. 1738: Protecting Children Through Eliminating Visa Loopholes Act

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 1979 to May 2019, Sensenbrenner missed 407 of 24,060 roll call votes, which is 1.7%. This is on par with the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

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