Spratt was the representative for South Carolina’s 5th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1983 to 2010.
![Photo of Rep. John Spratt [D-SC5, 1983-2010]](/static/legislator-photos/400386-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Spratt is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2010 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 Spratt sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2005 to Dec 21, 2010. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Spratt was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 4872 (111th): Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
- H.R. 6083 (110th): To authorize funding to conduct a national training program for State and local prosecutors.
- H.R. 5566 (102nd): To provide additional time to negotiate settlement of a land dispute in South Carolina.
- H.R. 3338 (101st): To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey all interest of the United States in a fish hatchery to the State of South Carolina.
- H.J.Res. 644 (100th): A joint resolution granting the consent of Congress to the compact entered into between the State of North Carolina and the State of South Carolina establishing the …
- H.R. 3148 (98th): A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to release on behalf of the United States a reversionary interest in certain land conveyed to the South Carolina …
Does 6 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
Spratt sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Foreign Trade and International Finance (36%) Economics and Public Finance (17%) Government Operations and Politics (9%) Education (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Taxation (7%) Labor and Employment (7%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%)
Recent Bills
Some of Spratt’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 6445 (111th): Carolinas Revolutionary Road National Heritage Area Act
- H.Res. 1493 (111th): Providing for budget enforcement for fiscal year 2011.
- H.Res. 1492 (111th): Providing for budget enforcement for fiscal year 2011.
- H.R. 5454 (111th): Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010
- H.R. 5448 (111th): To amend section 466(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to …
- H.R. 5252 (111th): Renewable Energy Tax Incentives Extension Act
- H.R. 4872 (111th): Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1983 to Dec 2010, Spratt missed 455 of 16,396 roll call votes, which is 2.8%. This is on par with the median of 3.1% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2010. 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
