Rep. Ritchie Torres
Representative for New York’s 15th District
pronounced RICH-ee // TOR-iss
![Photo of Rep. Ritchie Torres [D-NY15]](/static/legislator-photos/456838-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Torres proposed $25 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $5 million to New York State Housing Finance Agency for “Concourse Village Podium Repairs”
- $4 million to New York City Department of Education for “Evander Childs Educational Campus Cafeteria Renovations”
- $4 million to Muslim American Society of Upper NY for “Muslim American Society Bronx Muslim Center”
View all requests and justifications on Torres’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 Torres.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Torres 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 Torres has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 26, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Ritchie Torres sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Torres was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 7077 (117th): Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act
- H.R. 8275 (117th): Wholesale Produce Market Review Act
- H.R. 5320 (117th): Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Exchange Improvement 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
Torres sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Finance and Financial Sector (27%) Government Operations and Politics (17%) Crime and Law Enforcement (17%) International Affairs (13%) Immigration (8%) Housing and Community Development (7%) Health (6%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Torres recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5518: Right to Medicare Act
- H.Res. 648: Reaffirming the close partnership between the United States and the Republic of Kosovo.
- H.R. 4947: TRUST for Puerto Rico Act of 2023
- H.Res. 592: Censuring Representative George Santos.
- H.R. 4567: Strengthening the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
- H.R. 4452: Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act
- H.R. 4451: Reveal Risky Business in China Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2021 to Sep 2023, Torres missed 22 of 1,453 roll call votes, which is 1.5%. This is on par with 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
- Office of Rep. Torres for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills