![Photo of Rep. Sidney Yates [D-IL9, 1965-1998]](/static/legislator-photos/411947-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Yates is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1998 positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Yates sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 5, 1993 to Dec 17, 1998. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Yates was the primary sponsor of 25 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 1949 (105th): For the relief of Nuratu Olarewaju Abeke Kadiri.
- H.R. 4602 (103rd): Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1995
- H.J.Res. 239 (103rd): To authorize the President to proclaim September 1994 as “Classical Music Month”.
- H.R. 2520 (103rd): Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1994
- H.J.Res. 217 (103rd): To authorize the President to proclaim September 1993 as “Classical Music Month”.
- H.J.Res. 156 (103rd): Concerning the dedication of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
- H.R. 2660 (102nd): Entitled, “Authorization of Appropriations for the United States Holocaust Memorial Council”.
Does 25 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
Yates sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (22%) Government Operations and Politics (20%) Law (16%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (12%) Immigration (10%) International Affairs (10%) Transportation and Public Works (6%) Commerce (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Yates’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 4784 (105th): For the relief of Marin Turcinovic, and his fiancee, Corina Dechalup.
- H.R. 3848 (105th): Foreign Sovereign Immunity Technical Corrections Act of 1998
- H.Con.Res. 206 (105th): Permitting the use of the rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony ...
- H.R. 2745 (105th): For the relief of Sylvester Flis.
- H.R. 2157 (105th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to encourage the use ...
- H.R. 1998 (105th): Yates Firearm Registration and Crime Prevention Act of 1997
- H.R. 1996 (105th): Handgun Control Act of 1997
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1949 to Dec 1998, Yates missed 1,376 of 17,528 roll call votes, which is 7.9%. This is much worse than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 1998. 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
