Barrett was the representative for Wisconsin’s 5th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1993 to 2002.
![Photo of Rep. Thomas Barrett [D-WI5, 1993-2002]](/static/legislator-photos/400553-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Barrett is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2002 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 Barrett sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 1997 to Nov 19, 2002. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Barrett was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 3235 (106th): National Police Athletic League Youth Enrichment Act of 2000
- H.J.Res. 363 (103rd): To designate October 1994 as “Crime Prevention Month”.
Does 2 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
Barrett sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (18%) Science, Technology, Communications (12%) Economics and Public Finance (12%) Health (12%) Social Welfare (12%) Commerce (12%) Finance and Financial Sector (11%) Housing and Community Development (11%)
Recent Bills
Some of Barrett’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 4627 (107th): Real Estate Settlement Fairness Act
- H.Con.Res. 319 (107th): Honoring Henry Reuss, former United States Representative from Wisconsin, and extending the ...
- H.R. 3565 (107th): Nursing Home Security Act of 2001
- H.R. 2516 (107th): Air Conditioner Energy Efficiency Leadership Act
- H.R. 1825 (107th): Consumer Debit Card Protection Act
- H.R. 1604 (107th): Medicaid Safety Net Improvement Act of 2001
- H.Res. 96 (107th): Recognizing National Poison Prevention Week, and encouraging parents, educators, and caregivers to ...
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1993 to Nov 2002, Barrett missed 103 of 5,859 roll call votes, which is 1.8%. This is better than the median of 2.8% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Nov 2002. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
