Armey was the representative for Texas’s 26th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1985 to 2002.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 1995, Armey faced an allegation of improper use of congressional stationery. On Jun. 2, 1995, Guitierrez filed a complaint on behalf of the Congressional Accountability Project. Armey admitted to the violation and the complaint was dismissed on June 13, 1995. A public letter to Armey and a press statement were released on June 14, 1995.
![Photo of Rep. Richard Armey [R-TX26, 1985-2002]](/static/legislator-photos/400551-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Armey is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2002 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 Armey sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 1997 to Nov 19, 2002. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Armey was the primary sponsor of 10 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 5005 (107th): Homeland Security Act of 2002
- H.J.Res. 80 (107th): Appointing the day for the convening of the second session of the One Hundred Seventh Congress.
- H.J.Res. 51 (107th): Approving the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment with respect to the products of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
- H.J.Res. 64 (107th): Authorization for Use of Military Force
- H.J.Res. 61 (107th): Expressing the sense of the Senate and House of Representatives regarding the terrorist attacks launched against the United States on September 11, 2001.
- H.J.Res. 85 (106th): Appointing the day for the convening of the second session of the One Hundred Sixth Congress.
- H.J.Res. 103 (105th): Waiving certain enrollment requirements with respect to certain specified bills of the One Hundred Fifth Congress.
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
Armey sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (30%) Crime and Law Enforcement (12%) International Affairs (11%) Commerce (10%) Economics and Public Finance (9%) Finance and Financial Sector (9%) Law (9%) Families (9%)
Recent Bills
Some of Armey’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.Res. 614 (107th): Providing for the printing of a revised edition of the Rules and ...
- H.Res. 615 (107th): Providing for a committee of two Members to be appointed by the ...
- H.R. 5710 (107th): Homeland Security Information Sharing Act
- H.Res. 590 (107th): Relating to early organization of the House of Representatives for the One ...
- H.Con.Res. 464 (107th): Terrorist Attack Commemoration resolution
- H.Res. 510 (107th): Designating majority membership on certain standing committees of the House.
- H.Con.Res. 448 (107th): Providing for a special meeting of the Congress in New York, New ...
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1985 to Nov 2002, Armey missed 227 of 9,524 roll call votes, which is 2.4%. This is on par with the median of 2.8% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Nov 2002. 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
- 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills