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Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr.

Representative from Wisconsin’s 5th District, Republican

Sensenbrenner, a Republican, is the representative for Wisconsin's 5th congressional district and has served since Jan 7, 2003 (next election in 2018) (map).

He was previously the representative for Wisconsin's 9th congressional district (1979-2002).

What you can do

Photo of Rep. James Sensenbrenner [R-WI5]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2016 Report Card for Sensenbrenner.

Sponsorship Analysis

Our unique analysis of the bills Sensenbrenner has sponsored and cosponsored provides insight into his position in the House of Representatives.

Each dot in the chart below is a member of the House of Representatives. The dots are positioned horizontally according to our progressive—conservative ideology score and vertically according to our leadership score (leaders toward the top). Sensenbrenner is shown as a purple triangle. (analysis methodology)

Committee Membership

James Sensenbrenner Jr. sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Sensenbrenner was the primary sponsor of 41 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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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 about one third or more 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

Sensenbrenner sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Crime and Law Enforcement (33%) Taxation (17%) Health (16%) Environmental Protection (9%) Immigration (7%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (6%) Government Operations and Politics (6%) International Affairs (6%)

Recent Bills

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

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Sensenbrenner’s Vote Vote Description
No S. 612: A bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas, as the “George P. Kazen Federal Building ...
Dec 8, 2016. Passed 360/61.
Nay H.R. 4889: Kelsey Smith Act
May 23, 2016. Failed 229/158.
No H.R. 3038: Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015, Part II
Jul 15, 2015. Passed 312/119.
Aye H.R. 2146: Defending Public Safety Employees’ Retirement Act
Jun 18, 2015. Passed 218/208.
This vote made H.R. 2146 the vehicle for passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. 2146 was originally introduced as a bill to address issues with retirement funds of federal law enforcement officers and firefighters. ...
Yea H.R. 2048: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015
May 13, 2015. Passed 338/88.
The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of the Patriot Act, which had expired the day before. The act imposes some new limits on the bulk collection of ...
Nay H.R. 83 (113th): Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015
Dec 11, 2014. Passed 219/206.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 [pdf], which was approved by the House on December 11, 2014 and by the Senate on December 13, 2014. The bill was originally introduced on January 3, 2013 by ...
No H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015
Sep 17, 2014. Passed 319/108.
No H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
Jun 23, 2011. Passed 304/117.
The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant change to the U.S. patent system since 1952, and ...
Nay S. 3729 (111th): National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010
Sep 29, 2010. Passed 304/118.
Yea H.R. 1830 (110th): To extend the authorities of the Andean Trade Preference Act until February 29, 2008.
Jun 27, 2007. Passed 365/59.

Missed Votes

From Jan 1979 to Jul 2017, Sensenbrenner missed 341 of 23,025 roll call votes, which is 1.5%. This is on par with the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. ProPublica has tracked 8 explanations for these missed votes. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

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Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: