Rep. Tom Latham
Former Representative for Iowa’s 3rd District
Latham was the representative for Iowa’s 3rd congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2013 to 2014.
He was previously the representative for Iowa’s 4th congressional district as a Republican from 2003 to 2012; and the representative for Iowa’s 5th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2002.
![Photo of Rep. Tom Latham [R-IA3, 2013-2014]](/static/legislator-photos/400234-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2014 Report Card for Latham.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Latham is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2014 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 Latham sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2009 to Dec 11, 2014. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Latham was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 2610 (113th): Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014
- H.R. 1765 (113th): Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013
- H.R. 2563 (110th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 309 East Linn Street in Marshalltown, Iowa, as the “Major Scott Nisely Post Office”.
- H.R. 3030 (107th): Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2001
Does 4 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
Latham sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Armed Forces and National Security (17%) Economics and Public Finance (17%) Taxation (17%) Health (14%) Government Operations and Politics (10%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (10%) Agriculture and Food (7%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Latham recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5064 (113th): Lean and Responsive Government Act
- H.R. 4757 (113th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand certain exceptions …
- H.R. 4745 (113th): Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015
- H.R. 3722 (113th): To provide protections for certain sports medicine professionals who provide certain medical …
- H.R. 3721 (113th): America’s Agricultural Heritage Partnership Reauthorization Act
- H.R. 3166 (113th): To appropriate such funds as may be necessary to ensure certain important …
- H.R. 3165 (113th): Common Sense Health Reform Americans Actually Want Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1995 to Dec 2014, Latham missed 125 of 13,513 roll call votes, which is 0.9%. This is better than the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2014. 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
