Underwood is the representative for Illinois’s 14th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 3, 2019. Underwood is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Lauren Underwood [D-IL14]](/static/legislator-photos/412776-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Underwood.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Underwood 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 Underwood has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jun 17, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Lauren Underwood sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Underwood was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 2372 (116th): Veterans’ Care Quality Transparency Act
- H.R. 6140 (116th): Veterans in STEM Act
- H.R. 5444 (116th): Lower Insulin Costs Now Act
Does 3 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
Underwood sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (39%) Armed Forces and National Security (31%) Taxation (11%) Education (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (6%) Immigration (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Underwood’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 3956: To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the continued implementation ...
- H.R. 3643: To amend chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code, to direct the ...
- H.R. 3550: To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, title XXVII of ...
- H.R. 3452: To amend title 38, United States Code, to eliminate copayments by the Department ...
- H.R. 2749: Lethal Means Safety Training Act
- H.R. 2456: Farmers Fighting Climate Change Act
- H.R. 2439: SALT Fairness for Working Families Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2019 to Jun 2021, Underwood missed 8 of 1,126 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 2.0% 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 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
- Office of Lauren Underwood for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
