Walter “Wally” Herger, former Representative for California's 2nd Congressional District

Herger was the representative for California’s 2^nd congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1987 to 2012.

Photo of Rep. Walter “Wally” Herger [R-CA2, 1987-2012]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Herger is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2013 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 Herger sponsored and cosponsored. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Herger was the primary sponsor of 15 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

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 about one third or more of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Herger sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Taxation (38%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (21%) Commerce (10%) Health (10%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (5%) Economics and Public Finance (5%) Transportation and Public Works (5%)

Recent Bills

Some of Herger’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Herger’s Vote	Vote Description
Aye	H.R. 6233 (112th): Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2012 Aug 2, 2012. Passed 223/197.
Aye	H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act Jun 23, 2011. Passed 304/117. The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant change to the U.S. patent system since 1952, and ...
Nay	S. 3774 (111th): A bill to extend the deadline for Social Services Block Grant expenditures of supplemental funds appropriated following ... Nov 18, 2010. Passed 366/40.
Nay	S. 3729 (111th): National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 Sep 29, 2010. Passed 304/118.
Nay	H.R. 1622 (111th): To provide for a program of research, development, and demonstration on natural gas vehicles. Jul 21, 2009. Passed 393/35.
Yea	H.Res. 1525 (110th): Providing for consideration of the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 1424) to amend section 712 of ... Oct 3, 2008. Passed 223/205.
Nay	H.R. 2638 (110th): Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009 Sep 24, 2008. Passed 370/58.
No	H.R. 5819 (110th): SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act Apr 23, 2008. Passed 368/43.
Aye	H.Res. 801 (110th): Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3688) to implement the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement. Nov 7, 2007. Passed 349/55.
Yea	H.R. 1830 (110th): To extend the authorities of the Andean Trade Preference Act until February 29, 2008. Jun 27, 2007. Passed 365/59.

Missed Votes

From Jan 1987 to Jan 2013, Herger missed 527 of 16,206 roll call votes, which is 3.3%. This is on par with the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jan 2013. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1987 Jan-Mar	39	0	0.0%	0^th
1987 Apr-Jun	187	5	2.7%	39^th
1987 Jul-Sep	95	1	1.1%	27^th
1987 Oct-Dec	167	0	0.0%	0^th
1988 Feb-Mar	49	3	6.1%	55^th
1988 Apr-Jun	161	2	1.2%	18^th
1988 Jul-Sep	152	0	0.0%	0^th
1988 Oct-Oct	89	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Jan-Mar	14	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Apr-Jun	105	3	2.9%	46^th
1989 Jul-Sep	128	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Oct-Nov	121	3	2.5%	34^th
1990 Jan-Mar	60	0	0.0%	0^th
1990 Apr-Jun	150	3	2.0%	39^th
1990 Jul-Sep	183	4	2.2%	46^th
1990 Oct-Oct	143	3	2.1%	54^th
1991 Jan-Mar	62	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Apr-Jun	139	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Jul-Sep	81	17	21.0%	95^th
1991 Oct-Nov	162	6	3.7%	66^th
1992 Jan-Mar	66	6	9.1%	78^th
1992 Apr-Jun	185	22	11.9%	89^th
1992 Jul-Sep	196	3	1.5%	43^rd
1992 Oct-Oct	41	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Jan-Mar	127	2	1.6%	36^th
1993 Apr-Jun	190	2	1.1%	20^th
1993 Jul-Sep	164	4	2.4%	62^nd
1993 Oct-Nov	134	4	3.0%	65^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	4	4.2%	64^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	8	3.7%	65^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	17	12.0%	89^th
1994 Oct-Nov	51	0	0.0%	0^th
1995 Jan-Mar	279	4	1.4%	54^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	3	1.6%	44^th
1995 Jul-Sep	232	3	1.3%	41^st
1995 Oct-Dec	185	2	1.1%	30^th
1996 Jan-Mar	110	1	0.9%	33^rd
1996 Apr-Jun	182	6	3.3%	58^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	4	2.5%	52^nd
1997 Jan-Mar	71	4	5.6%	71^st
1997 Apr-Jun	174	15	8.6%	92^nd
1997 Jul-Sep	232	7	3.0%	67^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	4	2.5%	56^th
1998 Jan-Mar	89	12	13.5%	90^th
1998 Apr-Jun	185	5	2.7%	56^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	4	2.0%	47^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	1	1.4%	41^st
1999 Jan-Mar	77	3	3.9%	67^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	2	1.1%	31^st
1999 Jul-Sep	204	2	1.0%	37^th
1999 Oct-Nov	146	4	2.7%	53^rd
2000 Jan-Mar	95	6	6.3%	65^th
2000 Apr-Jun	277	11	4.0%	68^th
2000 Jul-Sep	130	3	2.3%	53^rd
2000 Oct-Dec	101	3	3.0%	28^th
2001 Jan-Mar	75	2	2.7%	56^th
2001 Apr-Jun	135	3	2.2%	49^th
2001 Jul-Sep	149	5	3.4%	71^st
2001 Oct-Dec	153	3	2.0%	47^th
2002 Jan-Mar	79	2	2.5%	54^th
2002 Apr-Jun	203	11	5.4%	77^th
2002 Jul-Sep	141	3	2.1%	45^th
2002 Oct-Nov	61	7	11.5%	85^th
2003 Jan-Mar	94	11	11.7%	94^th
2003 Apr-Jun	239	19	7.9%	89^th
2003 Jul-Sep	193	1	0.5%	19^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	12	7.9%	79^th
2004 Jan-Mar	104	3	2.9%	41^st
2004 Apr-Jun	221	3	1.4%	35^th
2004 Jul-Sep	161	5	3.1%	50^th
2004 Oct-Dec	58	1	1.7%	43^rd
2005 Jan-Mar	90	2	2.2%	38^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	3	1.1%	36^th
2005 Jul-Sep	146	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Oct-Dec	163	1	0.6%	18^th
2006 Jan-Mar	81	2	2.5%	60^th
2006 Apr-Jun	276	8	2.9%	63^rd
2006 Jul-Sep	159	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Nov-Dec	27	2	7.4%	64^th
2007 Jan-Mar	213	6	2.8%	62^nd
2007 Apr-Jun	393	10	2.5%	65^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	46	14.5%	97^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	3	1.1%	23^rd
2008 Jan-Mar	149	6	4.0%	50^th
2008 Apr-Jun	321	8	2.5%	47^th
2008 Jul-Sep	205	5	2.4%	49^th
2008 Oct-Dec	15	1	6.7%	79^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	2	1.1%	34^th
2009 Apr-Jun	303	6	2.0%	42^nd
2009 Jul-Sep	268	4	1.5%	41^st
2009 Oct-Dec	246	5	2.0%	41^st
2010 Jan-Mar	195	1	0.5%	12^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	6	2.7%	47^th
2010 Jul-Sep	151	5	3.3%	65^th
2010 Nov-Dec	99	2	2.0%	33^rd
2011 Jan-Mar	212	5	2.4%	72^nd
2011 Apr-Jun	281	7	2.5%	68^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	5	2.0%	60^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	3	1.4%	41^st
2012 Jan-Mar	151	3	2.0%	53^rd
2012 Apr-Jun	299	14	4.7%	73^rd
2012 Jul-Sep	152	31	20.4%	96^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	3	5.9%	62^nd
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th

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
Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
GPO.gov/FDSys, for sponsored bills

Walter “Wally” Herger is pronounced:

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Rep. Walter “Wally” Herger

Links

Follow GovTrack on social media for more updates:

On GovTrack Insider:

I have an opinion I want to share.

I need help, have a question, or want to schedule a tour.