Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy
Former Representative for Massachusetts’s 4th District
pronounced JOH-sif // KEH-nuh-dee
Kennedy was the representative for Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2013 to 2020.
![Photo of Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy [D-MA4, 2013-2020]](/static/legislator-photos/412543-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Kennedy.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Kennedy is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2020 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 Kennedy sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Dec 28, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Kennedy was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 7460 (116th): Peace Corps Commemorative Work Extension Act
- H.R. 3192 (115th): CHIP Mental Health Parity Act
- H.R. 1762 (115th): POWER Act
- H.R. 1652 (115th): Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017
- H.R. 5722 (114th): John F. Kennedy Centennial Commission Act
- H.R. 2939 (113th): To award the Congressional Gold Medal to Shimon Peres.
- H.R. 915 (113th): To authorize the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes.
Does 7 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
Kennedy sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (45%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (17%) Crime and Law Enforcement (11%) Taxation (9%) International Affairs (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Kennedy recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 9058 (116th): To require the Director of the National Institutes of Health to enter …
- H.R. 9059 (116th): To require Federal financial supervisory agencies to evaluate a financial institution’s record …
- H.R. 9061 (116th): To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to establish a credit …
- H.R. 9060 (116th): To amend section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United States …
- H.R. 9045 (116th): To prohibit searches based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or sex, …
- H.R. 8942 (116th): ASSIST Act
- H.R. 8901 (116th): Holyoke Veterans Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Dec 2020, Kennedy missed 215 of 4,693 roll call votes, which is 4.6%. This is worse than the median of 2.3% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2020. 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.
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
