![Photo of Rep. Norvell “Bill” Emerson [R-MO8, 1983-1996]](/static/legislator-photos/403864-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Emerson is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1996 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 Emerson sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1991 to Oct 3, 1996. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Emerson was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 701 (104th): To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to convey lands to the City of Rolla, Missouri.
- H.R. 1101 (102nd): For the relief of William A. Cassity.
- H.R. 3604 (102nd): Greer Spring Acquisition and Protection Act of 1991
- H.R. 5252 (98th): A bill to redesignate the Regional Veterans Administration Medical Center located in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, as the “General Black Jack Pershing Regional Veterans Administration Medical Center”.
Does 4 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
Emerson sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (19%) Economics and Public Finance (16%) Taxation (14%) Law (13%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (10%) Education (10%) Agriculture and Food (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (9%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Emerson recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 2493 (104th): Food for Peace Reauthorization Act of 1995
- H.R. 2330 (104th): Agricultural Competitiveness Act of 1995
- H.R. 2210 (104th): Superfund Recycling Act of 1995
- H.R. 2130 (104th): Farmer Mac Reform Act of 1995
- H.R. 2063 (104th): Sentencing Amendment Disapproval Act of 1995
- H.R. 1997 (104th): Food Stamp Flexibility and Commodity Distribution Consolidation Act of 1995
- H.R. 1856 (104th): Natural Disaster Protection Partnership Act of 1995
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1981 to Jun 1996, Emerson missed 200 of 7,658 roll call votes, which is 2.6%. This is on par with the median of 2.7% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jun 1996. 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
