Rep. Mark Pocan
Representative for Wisconsin’s 2nd District
pronounced mahrk // POH-kan
![Photo of Rep. Mark Pocan [D-WI2]](/static/legislator-photos/412585-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Pocan proposed $24 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $3.0 million to The River Food Pantry, Inc. for “The River Food Pantry Expanded Facility Construction. City of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, 2nd Congressional District.”
- $3.0 million to Dane County for “Dane County, WI Digester & Yahara Watershed Improvement Project”
- $2.4 million to Sauk County, Wisconsin for “Great Sauk State Trail Bicycle Rail Trail Connection. Sauk County, Wisconsin, 2nd Congressional District.”
View all requests and justifications on Pocan’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Pocan.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Pocan 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 Pocan has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 26, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Mark Pocan sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Pocan was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 3285 (117th): 21st Century President Act
- H.R. 2277 (116th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1715 Linnerud Drive in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, as the “Fire Captain Cory Barr Post Office …
- H.R. 2367 (116th): Lifetime Income Disclosure 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
Pocan sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Education (26%) Labor and Employment (18%) Government Operations and Politics (14%) Health (11%) Agriculture and Food (11%) Commerce (11%) Taxation (5%) International Affairs (5%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Pocan recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5685: To prevent harassment at institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 4844: Improving Training for School Food Service Workers Act
- H.R. 4749: Helen Keller National Center Reauthorization Act of 2023
- H.R. 4559: Food Worker Pay Standards Act
- H.Res. 507: Congratulating the National Treasury Employees Union on its 85th anniversary and commending the …
- H.R. 3923: Debt-Free College Act of 2023
- H.R. 3111: Words Matter Act of 2023
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Sep 2023, Pocan missed 226 of 6,146 roll call votes, which is 3.7%. This is worse than the median of 1.8% 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.
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
