Rep. John Sarbanes

Representative for Maryland’s 3^rd District

pronounced jon // sar-BAYN

Sarbanes is the representative for Maryland’s 3^rd congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 4, 2007. Sarbanes is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 61 years old.

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Earmarks

Sarbanes proposed $38 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:

$5 million to Anne Arundel County, MD for “Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park Trails and Open Space”
$5 million to Anne Arundel County, MD for “Transit Operations Facility”
$4 million to City of Annapolis for “Annapolis City Dock Revitalization - Waterfront Park”

View all requests and justifications on Sarbanes’s website »

View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »

These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.

Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Sarbanes 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 Sarbanes has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 11, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

John Sarbanes sits on the following committees:

House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Energy, Climate, and Grid Security, Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials, Health subcommittees

Enacted Legislation

Sarbanes was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:

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Does 5 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Sarbanes sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (45%) Environmental Protection (30%) Health (15%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (10%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Sarbanes recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Sarbanes voted Yea

H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023

Passed 329/101 on Jul 14, 2022.

Sarbanes voted Nay

H.R. 4566: Alleviating Stress Test Burdens to Help Investors Act

Passed 395/19 on Mar 20, 2018.

H.R. 4566 amends Title I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) to exempt nonbank financial institutions not under the …

Sarbanes voted Nay

H.R. 1695: Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017

Passed 378/48 on Apr 26, 2017.

This bill would change the appointment process for the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, known as the Register of Copyrights. Currently the Register of …

Sarbanes voted No

S. 612: A bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, …

Passed 360/61 on Dec 8, 2016.

The WIIN (Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation) Act was a 277-page bill dealing with federal water policies, particularly for drought-stricken areas. It’s so complex …

Sarbanes voted Nay

H.R. 2576: Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act

Passed 403/12 on May 24, 2016.

The TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to expand the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate and …

Sarbanes voted Nay

H.R. 2187: Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act

Passed 347/8 on Feb 1, 2016.

Sarbanes voted Yea

H.R. 2048: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015

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 …

Sarbanes voted No

H.R. 1731: National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015

Passed 355/63 on Apr 23, 2015.

Sarbanes voted Aye

H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015

Passed 319/108 on Sep 17, 2014.

Sarbanes voted Nay

H.R. 634 (113th): Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act of 2013

Passed 411/12 on Jun 12, 2013.

Sarbanes voted Nay

H.R. 1765 (113th): Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013

Passed 361/41 on Apr 26, 2013.

Sarbanes voted Aye

H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.

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 …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2007 to Jan 2024, Sarbanes missed 148 of 11,562 roll call votes, which is 1.3%. This is on par with the median of 1.9% 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, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2007 Jan-Mar	213	4	1.9%	57^th
2007 Apr-Jun	393	4	1.0%	35^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	1	0.4%	11^th
2008 Jan-Mar	149	3	2.0%	35^th
2008 Apr-Jun	321	1	0.3%	10^th
2008 Jul-Sep	205	1	0.5%	18^th
2008 Oct-Dec	15	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	6	3.4%	71^st
2009 Apr-Jun	303	6	2.0%	48^th
2009 Jul-Sep	268	4	1.5%	43^rd
2009 Oct-Dec	246	3	1.2%	30^th
2010 Jan-Mar	195	7	3.6%	61^st
2010 Apr-Jun	219	4	1.8%	34^th
2010 Jul-Sep	151	1	0.7%	23^rd
2010 Nov-Dec	99	2	2.0%	39^th
2011 Jan-Mar	212	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Apr-Jun	281	1	0.4%	18^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	2	1.0%	36^th
2012 Jan-Mar	151	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Apr-Jun	299	3	1.0%	37^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	1	2.0%	35^th
2013 Jan-Jan 112th Congress	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	1	1.1%	40^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	20	9.3%	93^rd
2013 Jul-Sep	200	5	2.5%	71^st
2013 Oct-Dec	137	1	0.7%	29^th
2014 Jan-Mar	148	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Apr-Jun	219	2	0.9%	37^th
2014 Jul-Sep	147	1	0.7%	30^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	1	0.7%	26^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	12	4.9%	84^th
2015 Jul-Sep	139	2	1.4%	56^th
2015 Oct-Dec	177	3	1.7%	64^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	3	2.2%	42^nd
2016 Apr-Jun	204	1	0.5%	17^th
2016 Jul-Sep	232	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Nov-Dec	48	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	208	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Apr-Jun	136	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jul-Sep	199	1	0.5%	40^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	1	0.6%	26^th
2018 Jan-Mar	129	3	2.3%	51^st
2018 Apr-Jun	184	1	0.5%	17^th
2018 Jul-Sep	102	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Nov-Dec	85	5	5.9%	81^st
2019 Jan-Mar	136	1	0.7%	33^rd
2019 Apr-Jun	294	1	0.3%	21^st
2019 Jul-Sep	125	0	0.0%	0^th
2019 Oct-Dec	146	1	0.7%	31^st
2020 Jan-Mar	102	1	1.0%	36^th
2020 Apr-Jun	31	0	0.0%	0^th
2020 Jul-Sep	80	0	0.0%	0^th
2020 Oct-Dec	40	0	0.0%	0^th
2021 Jan-Mar	97	2	2.1%	65^th
2021 Apr-Jun	107	0	0.0%	0^th
2021 Jul-Sep	108	1	0.9%	37^th
2021 Oct-Dec	137	1	0.7%	34^th
2022 Jan-Mar	102	0	0.0%	0^th
2022 Apr-Jun	197	1	0.5%	40^th
2022 Jul-Sep	178	0	0.0%	0^th
2022 Nov-Dec	72	0	0.0%	0^th
2023 Jan-Mar	182	12	6.6%	91^st
2023 Apr-Jun	107	6	5.6%	80^th
2023 Jul-Sep	224	0	0.0%	0^th
2023 Oct-Dec	211	3	1.4%	48^th
2024 Jan-Jan	10	1	10.0%	67^th

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

Rep. John Sarbanes

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Earmarks

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Committee Membership

Enacted Legislation

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Recently Introduced Bills

Voting Record

Key Votes

Sarbanes voted Yea

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted No

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Yea

Sarbanes voted No

Sarbanes voted Aye

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Aye

Missed Votes

Primary Sources