Neal is the representative for Massachusetts’s 1st congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Neal is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
He was previously the representative for Massachusetts’s 2nd congressional district as a Democrat from 1989 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Richard Neal [D-MA1]](/static/legislator-photos/400291-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Neal 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 Neal has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 15, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Neal was the primary sponsor of 8 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 1994 (116th): Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019
- H.R. 430: TANF Extension Act of 2019
- H.R. 1235 (115th): Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act
- H.R. 5776 (115th): MOST Act
- H.R. 2452 (111th): Net Operating Loss (NOL) Carryback Act
- H.R. 1900 (108th): To award a congressional gold medal to Jackie Robinson (posthumously), in recognition of his many contributions to the Nation, and to express the sense of the Congress ...
- H.R. 4184 (102nd): To designate the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center located in Northampton, Massachusetts, as the “Edward P. Boland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center”.
Does 8 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
Neal sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (32%) Health (24%) Social Welfare (13%) Labor and Employment (11%) Science, Technology, Communications (5%) Immigration (5%) Finance and Financial Sector (5%) Sports and Recreation (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Neal’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 9051 (116th): CASH Act of 2020
- H.R. 9047: To amend section 6428A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase ...
- H.R. 8696: Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2020
- H.R. 8079: Elder Justice Reauthorization Act of 2020
- H.R. 7110: Warren Cowles Grade Crossing Safety Act
- H.Res. 904: Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make corrections in the ...
- H.R. 5826: Consumer Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills Act of 2020
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1989 to Jan 2021, Neal missed 1,060 of 19,977 roll call votes, which is 5.3%. This is much worse 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
- 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
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills