![Photo of Rep. Wes Watkins [R-OK3, 1997-2002]](/static/legislator-photos/400540-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Watkins 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 Watkins sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 1997 to Nov 19, 2002. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Watkins was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 2650 (101st): To provide for the use and distribution of funds awarded the Seminole Indians in dockets 73, 151, and 73-A of the Indian Claims Commission.
- H.R. 4354 (100th): Winding Stair Mountain National Recreation and Wilderness Area Act
- H.R. 4331 (99th): Rural Industrial Assistance Act of 1986
- H.R. 5945 (98th): A bill to name the Federal Building in McAlester, Oklahoma, the “Carl Albert Federal Building”.
- H.R. 7150 (96th): A bill to designate the Indian Health Facility in Ada, Oklahoma, the “Carl Albert Indian Health Facility”.
Does 5 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
Watkins sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (17%) Commerce (17%) Economics and Public Finance (14%) Housing and Community Development (12%) Health (11%) Social Welfare (10%) Energy (10%) Law (8%)
Recent Bills
Some of Watkins’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 5639 (107th): Texas Band of Kickapoo Act Amendments
- H.R. 5109 (107th): To direct the Secretary of Energy to convey a parcel of land ...
- H.R. 4828 (107th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for proration ...
- H.R. 4769 (107th): To direct the Secretary of the Army to convey a parcel of ...
- H.R. 4712 (107th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an exemption ...
- H.R. 4686 (107th): To direct the Secretary of Energy to convey a parcel of land ...
- H.Res. 398 (107th): Recognizing the devastating impact of fragile X, urging increased funding for research ...
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1977 to Nov 2002, Watkins missed 700 of 10,664 roll call votes, which is 6.6%. This is much worse 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
- 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
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills