Ford was a senator from Kentucky and was a Democrat. He served from 1974 to 1998.
![Photo of Sen. Wendell Ford [D-KY, 1974-1998]](/static/legislator-photos/404219-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Ford is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 1998 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 Ford sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 5, 1993 to Oct 21, 1998. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Ford was the primary sponsor of 27 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 421 (104th): A bill to extend the deadline under the Federal Power Act applicable to the construction of a hydroelectric project in Kentucky, and for other purposes.
- S.J.Res. 227 (103rd): A joint resolution to approve the location of a Thomas Paine Memorial.
- S. 2024 (103rd): Airport Improvement Program Temporary Extension Act of 1994
- S. 1588 (103rd): Independent Safety Board Act Amendments of 1994
- S. 564 (103rd): Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993
- S. 2 (103rd): National Voter Registration Act of 1993
- S. 3327 (102nd): A bill to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to permit the acre-for-acre transfer of an acreage allotment or quota for certain commodities, and for other …
Does 27 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
Ford sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (26%) Economics and Public Finance (16%) Law (13%) Transportation and Public Works (10%) Science, Technology, Communications (10%) Commerce (9%) Sports and Recreation (7%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Ford recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 2612 (105th): Fort Campbell Tax Fairness Act of 1998
- S.Res. 274 (105th): A resolution to express the sense of the Senate that the Louisville …
- S. 2077 (105th): National Guard and Reserve Components Equity Act of 1998
- S. 1989 (105th): Marriage Penalty Reduction Act
- S. 1968 (105th): Air Service Restoration Act
- S. 1912 (105th): A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to exclude additional …
- S.Res. 204 (105th): A resolution to commend and congratulate the University of Kentucky on its …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1975 to Oct 1998, Ford missed 351 of 10,131 roll call votes, which is 3.5%. This is worse than the median of 1.9% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Oct 1998. 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
- 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
