![Photo of Sen. Timothy Wirth [D-CO, 1987-1992]](/static/legislator-photos/411801-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Wirth 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 Wirth sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 1987 to Oct 8, 1992. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Wirth was the primary sponsor of 21 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 737 (101st): A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire certain lands adjacent to the boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park in the State of Colorado.
- S.J.Res. 301 (100th): A joint resolution designating January 20, 1989, as “National Skiing Day”.
- S. 1991 (100th): Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Amendments of 1988
- S. 2717 (100th): A bill extending permission for the President’s Commission on White House Fellows to accept certain donations.
- S.J.Res. 146 (100th): A joint resolution designating January 8, 1988, as “National Skiing Day”.
- S.J.Res. 145 (100th): A joint resolution designating the week beginning June 21, 1987, as “National Outward Bound Week”.
- H.J.Res. 710 (99th): A joint resolution to designate the week beginning October 6, 1986, as “National Children’s Television Awareness Week”.
Does 21 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
Wirth sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Environmental Protection (32%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (20%) Finance and Financial Sector (12%) Energy (10%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (10%) Government Operations and Politics (8%) International Affairs (5%) Education (4%)
Recent Bills
Some of Wirth’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 3384 (102nd): International Population Stabilization and Reproductive Choice Act of 1992
- S. 3268 (102nd): United States Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement Clarification and Enhancement Act
- S. 2771 (102nd): Clear Creek County, Colorado, Public Lands Transfer Act of 1991
- S. 2754 (102nd): A bill to clarify authorities of the Secretary of Agriculture is considering ...
- S. 2606 (102nd): A bill to further clarify authorities and duties of the Secretary of ...
- S. 2506 (102nd): A bill to ensure fair treatment of Department of Energy employees during ...
- S. 2397 (102nd): Yucca House National Monument Expansion Act of 1992
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1987 to Oct 1992, Wirth missed 114 of 1,987 roll call votes, which is 5.7%. This is on par with 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 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
