McDermott was the representative for Washington’s 7th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1989 to 2016.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
On Dec. 28, 2004, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigated McDermott for improperly disclosing the contents of an intercepted cell-phone conversation to the news media and established investigative subcommittee. On Dec. 8, 2006, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct concluded that McDermott’s conduct was inconsistent with the spirit of the applicable rules..
| Dec. 28, 2004 | House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct established investigative subcommittee |
| Dec. 19, 2006 | House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct concluded that McDermott’s conduct was inconsistent with the spirit of the applicable rules. |
On Jul. 24, 1996, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigated McDermott for conflict of interest (he participated in committee deliberations involving complaints filed with the substantial assistance of a person affiliated with his political action committee) and violation of committee confidentiality rules. The committee dismissed the complaint.
| Jul. 24, 1996 | House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct dismissed complaint |
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2016 Report Card for McDermott.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
McDermott is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2016 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 McDermott sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 5, 2011 to Dec 30, 2016. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
McDermott was the primary sponsor of 8 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 5268 (114th): Medicare Beneficiary Enrollment Improvement Act
- H.R. 5618 (111th): Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2010
- H.R. 3548 (111th): Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009
- H.R. 6867 (110th): Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008
- H.R. 6893 (110th): Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
- H.R. 2608 (110th): SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act
- H.R. 5302 (106th): To designate the United States courthouse located at 1010 Fifth Avenue in Seattle, Washington, as the “William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse”.
Does 8 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
McDermott sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (36%) Health (30%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (7%) Sports and Recreation (4%) International Affairs (4%)
Recent Bills
Some of McDermott’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 6265 (114th): Medigap Consumer Protection Act of 2016
- H.R. 5947 (114th): Improved Employment Outcomes for Foster Youth Act of 2016
- H.R. 5436 (114th): Protecting America’s Health Measures Act
- H.R. 5396 (114th): Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act of 2016
- H.R. 5290 (114th): Housing for Homeless Students Act of 2015
- H.R. 5268 (114th): Medicare Beneficiary Enrollment Improvement Act
- H.R. 5069 (114th): Cybersecurity Systems and Risks Reporting Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1989 to Dec 2016, McDermott missed 737 of 17,796 roll call votes, which is 4.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2016. 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.
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