Rep. Ted Lieu
Representative for California’s 36th District
pronounced ted // loo
Lieu is the representative for California’s 36th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2023. Lieu is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 54 years old.
He was previously the representative for California’s 33rd congressional district as a Democrat from 2015 to 2022.
![Photo of Rep. Ted Lieu [D-CA36]](/static/legislator-photos/412616-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Lieu proposed $39 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $5 million to City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks for “Venice Beach Restroom Replacement Project”
- $5 million to City of Lomita for “Downtown Lomita Stormwater Project:”
- $4 million to City of Culver City for “Culver City Stormwater Diversion”
View all requests and justifications on Lieu’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 Lieu.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Lieu 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 Lieu has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 26, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Ted Lieu sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Lieu was the primary sponsor of 8 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 404 (117th): Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act
- H.R. 711 (117th): West Los Angeles VA Campus Improvement Act of 2021
- H.R. 1354 (117th): Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Boundary Adjustment Study Act
- H.R. 8694 (116th): Oversight.gov Authorization Act of 2020
- H.R. 7881 (116th): Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020
- H.R. 4966 (114th): Preventing Superbugs and Protecting Patients Act
- H.R. 3484 (114th): Los Angeles Homeless Veterans Leasing Act of 2016
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
Lieu sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (23%) International Affairs (21%) Government Operations and Politics (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (10%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (10%) Housing and Community Development (9%) Commerce (9%) Science, Technology, Communications (8%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Lieu recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5542: Accountability in Assignment Restrictions and Reviews Act of 2023
- H.R. 5496: Climate Solutions Act of 2023
- H.R. 5373: Increasing Penalties for Offshore Polluters Act
- H.R. 5332: SWAMP Act of 2023
- H.R. 5331: Government Surveillance Transparency Act of 2023
- H.R. 5309: Warrant for Metadata Act
- H.R. 5310: Improving Contractor Cybersecurity Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to Sep 2023, Lieu missed 306 of 4,942 roll call votes, which is 6.2%. This is much worse than 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
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
