Hamilton was the representative for Indiana’s 9th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1965 to 1998.
![Photo of Rep. Lee Hamilton [D-IN9, 1965-1998]](/static/legislator-photos/404996-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Hamilton is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1998 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 Hamilton sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 5, 1993 to Dec 17, 1998. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Hamilton was the primary sponsor of 10 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 680 (105th): To amend the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to authorize the transfer to States of surplus personal property for donation to nonprofit providers of …
- H.R. 5155 (103rd): To authorize the transfer of naval vessels to certain foreign countries.
- H.R. 4429 (103rd): To authorize the transfer of naval vessels to certain foreign countries.
- H.R. 4635 (103rd): To extend the Export Administration Act of 1979.
- H.R. 2333 (103rd): Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995
- H.R. 3471 (103rd): To authorize the leasing of naval vessels to certain foreign countries.
- H.R. 2561 (103rd): To authorize the transfer of naval vessels to certain foreign countries.
Does 10 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
Hamilton sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (19%) Government Operations and Politics (19%) Armed Forces and National Security (15%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (12%) Commerce (9%) Economics and Public Finance (9%) Environmental Protection (9%) Crime and Law Enforcement (9%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Hamilton recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.Res. 424 (105th): Comprehensive Travel Reform Rule of 1998
- H.R. 2708 (105th): Enhancement of Trade, Security, and Human Rights through Sanctions Reform Act
- H.R. 1590 (105th): Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1997
- H.R. 1546 (105th): Government Secrecy Act of 1997
- H.Res. 61 (105th): To provide for independent investigations and factfinding for ethics investigations.
- H.Res. 68 (105th): Stating the sense of the House of Representatives that the Treaty of …
- H.R. 680 (105th): To amend the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1965 to Dec 1998, Hamilton missed 214 of 16,163 roll call votes, which is 1.3%. This is better than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 1998. 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
- 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills