![Photo of Sen. Robert Kasten [R-WI, 1981-1992]](/static/legislator-photos/406190-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Kasten is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 1992 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 Kasten sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 1987 to Oct 8, 1992. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Kasten was the primary sponsor of 13 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S.J.Res. 329 (101st): An Act to designate the week of November 3, 1990, to November 10, 1990, as “National Week to Commemorate the Victims of the Famine in the Ukraine, …
- S.J.Res. 288 (101st): A joint resolution designating January 6, 1991, through January 12, 1991, as “National Law Enforcement Training Week”.
- S.J.Res. 227 (101st): A joint resolution to designate March 11, through March 17, 1990, as “Deaf Awareness Week”.
- S.J.Res. 137 (101st): A joint resolution designating January 7, 1990, through January 13, 1990, as “National Law Enforcement Training Week”.
- S.J.Res. 40 (100th): A joint resolution to give special recognition to the birth and achievements of Aldo Leopold.
- S. 2129 (99th): Risk Retention Amendments of 1986
- S.J.Res. 195 (99th): A joint resolution to designate the week of October 20, 1985, through October 26, 1985, as “National Temporary Services Week”.
Does 13 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
Kasten sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (34%) Agriculture and Food (16%) Environmental Protection (11%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (11%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%) Commerce (7%) International Affairs (7%) Health (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Kasten recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 3194 (102nd): A bill to amend provisions of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement …
- S. 3199 (102nd): Financial Assistance for Compliance Act
- S. 3215 (102nd): Minority Enterprise Development Act of 1992
- S.J.Res. 299 (102nd): A joint resolution to state the finding of Congress that the Amendment …
- S. 2678 (102nd): A bill to provide assistance to communities to improve drug abuse resistance …
- S. 2484 (102nd): National Triad Program Act
- S.J.Res. 262 (102nd): A joint resolution designating July 4, 1992, as “Buy American Day”.
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1981 to Oct 1992, Kasten missed 90 of 4,355 roll call votes, which is 2.1%. This is better than the median of 4.7% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Oct 1992. 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
