![Photo of Sen. John Breaux [D-LA, 1987-2004]](/static/legislator-photos/300012-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Breaux is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2004 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 Breaux sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 1999 to Dec 8, 2004. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Breaux was the primary sponsor of 32 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 1989 (100th): South Pacific Tuna Act of 1988
- S. 1988 (100th): A bill to amend the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, and for other purposs.
- S. 2228 (100th): To designate the United States Post Office Building located at 1105 Moss Street in Lafayette, Louisiana, as the “James Domengeaux Post Office Building.”
- S. 1695 (100th): A bill to reauthorize the Fishermen’s Protective Act.
- H.R. 4531 (99th): A bill to extend the Wetlands Loan Act, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 1406 (99th): A bill to authorize appropriations for nongame fish and wildlife conservation during fiscal years 1986, 1987, and 1988.
- H.R. 4022 (99th): A bill to direct release of restrictions, conditions, and limitations on the use or conveyance of certain real property located in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.
Does 32 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
Breaux sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Commerce (18%) Government Operations and Politics (17%) Taxation (13%) Law (12%) Economics and Public Finance (11%) Finance and Financial Sector (10%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (10%) Transportation and Public Works (9%)
Recent Bills
Some of Breaux’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 2495 (108th): A bill to strike limitations on funding and extend the period of ...
- S. 2298 (108th): Employee Stock Ownership Plan Promotion and Improvement Act of 2004
- S. 2019 (108th): Sportfishing and Boating Equity Act of 2004
- S.Res. 288 (108th): A resolution commending the Louisiana State University Tigers football team for winning ...
- S. 1804 (108th): Sport Fishing and Recreational Boating Safety Act
- S. 1769 (108th): National Class Action Act of 2003
- S. 1578 (108th): A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify ...
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1987 to Dec 2004, Breaux missed 122 of 6,222 roll call votes, which is 2.0%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2004. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
