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Rep. Jason Smith

Representative for Missouri’s 8th District

pronounced JAY-sun // smith

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Smith is the representative for Missouri’s 8th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jun 4, 2013. Smith is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

Smith is among the Republican legislators whose attempt to disenfranchise Democratic states in the 2020 presidential election was a part of the months-long attempted coup that included the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. Shortly after the 2020 election, Smith joined a case before the Supreme Court calling for all the votes for president in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — states that were narrowly won by Democrats — to be discounted based on lies, conspiracy theories, and a preposterous legal argument which the Supreme Court rejected. Following the rejection of several related cases before the Supreme Court, another legislator who joined the case called for violence. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the attack on the Capitol, Smith voted for the exclusion of all of the votes in Arizona and/or Pennsylvania — states narrowly won by Democrats — from the Electoral College count that determined the next President of the United States. These legislators have generally changed their story after their vote, claiming it was merely a protest and not intended to change the outcome of the election as they clearly sought prior to the vote.
Photo of Rep. Jason Smith [R-MO8]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Smith.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Smith 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 Smith has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Dec 2, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

The Club for Growth: 84% United States Chamber of Commerce: 70% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: D Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 5% League of Conservation Voters: 1% Human Rights Campaign: 0%

Committee Membership

Jason Smith sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Smith was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:

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Does 1 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

Smith sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Taxation (55%) Health (18%) Government Operations and Politics (7%)

Recent Bills

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

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Smith voted Nay

Smith voted Yea

Passed 275/134 on Dec 28, 2020.
This was a vote to increase the COVID-19 relief checks to Americans from $600 to $2,000 and to extend benefits to dependents rather than only …

Smith voted Nay

Smith voted Nay

Passed 363/40 on Mar 14, 2020.
The federal government has enacted four main stimulus laws in response to the covid-19 pandemic. Here’s a brief rundown of what each of these legislative …

Smith voted Nay

Passed 358/36 on Dec 20, 2018.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the FIRST Step Act, the Senate's criminal justice reform bill. The text of this bill was replaced …

Smith voted Nay

Passed 361/61 on Sep 26, 2018.
H.R. 6157 provides $674.6 billion in total discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The bill provides $606.5 billion …

Smith voted Nay

Passed 229/177 on May 19, 2017.
H.R. 1039 amends the federal criminal code to authorize a probation officer to arrest a person, without warrant, if there is probable cause to believe …

Smith voted Yea

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.
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 …

Smith voted Yea

Passed 219/206 on Dec 11, 2014.
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 …

Smith voted Aye

Missed Votes

From Jun 2013 to Dec 2021, Smith missed 54 of 4,897 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is better than the median of 2.1% 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 and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

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