skip to main content

 
Rep. Katherine Clark

House Minority Whip and Representative for Massachusetts’s 5th District

pronounced KATH-rin // klahrk


Clark is the representative for Massachusetts’s 5th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Dec 12, 2013. Clark is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. She is 59 years old.

She is also House Minority Whip, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.

Photo of Rep. Katherine Clark [D-MA5]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Clark.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Clark 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 Clark has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 17, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Clark was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:

View All »

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

Clark sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Education (39%) Health (15%) Crime and Law Enforcement (12%) International Affairs (12%) Labor and Employment (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%) Families (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Clark recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As House Minority Whip, Clark may be focused on her responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting her party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Clark voted Yea

Clark voted Yea

Passed 297/121 on Apr 11, 2018.

H.R. 4061 amends the Dodd-Frank Act to require the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), when determining whether to subject a U.S. or a foreign nonbank …

Clark voted Nay

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 …

Clark voted Nay

Clark voted No

Clark voted Nay

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 …

Clark voted Nay

Passed 219/206 on Dec 11, 2014.

This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 [pdf], which was approved by the House on December …

Clark voted Nay

Clark voted No

Clark voted Nay

Missed Votes

From Dec 2013 to Mar 2023, Clark missed 87 of 5,197 roll call votes, which is 1.7%. This is on par with the median of 1.5% 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...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: