Rep. William “Bill” Clay

Former Representative for Missouri’s 1^st District

Clay was the representative for Missouri’s 1^st congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1969 to 2000.

Bioguide

Photo of Rep. William “Bill” Clay [D-MO1, 1969-2000]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Clay is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2000 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 Clay sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 1995 to Dec 15, 2000. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Clay was the primary sponsor of 17 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

Does 17 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Clay sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (19%) Families (15%) Education (15%) Economics and Public Finance (13%) Labor and Employment (12%) Social Welfare (12%) Law (7%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Clay recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1969 to Dec 2000, Clay missed 2,989 of 16,505 roll call votes, which is 18.1%. This is much worse than the median of 3.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2000. 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1969 Jan-Mar	16	3	18.8%	67^th
1969 Apr-Jun	28	5	17.9%	57^th
1969 Jul-Sep	45	7	15.6%	57^th
1969 Oct-Dec	88	24	27.3%	62^nd
1970 Jan-Mar	35	16	45.7%	75^th
1970 Apr-Jun	74	37	50.0%	62^nd
1970 Jul-Sep	76	35	46.1%	75^th
1970 Oct-Dec	81	36	44.4%	88^th
1971 Jan-Mar	22	9	40.9%	91^st
1971 Apr-Jun	90	55	61.1%	91^st
1971 Jul-Sep	74	28	37.8%	91^st
1971 Oct-Dec	134	51	38.1%	82^nd
1972 Jan-Mar	64	36	56.2%	91^st
1972 Apr-Jun	114	50	43.9%	91^st
1972 Jul-Sep	101	42	41.6%	91^st
1972 Oct-Oct	50	50	100.0%	92^nd
1973 Jan-Mar	36	13	36.1%	91^st
1973 Apr-Jun	191	21	11.0%	68^th
1973 Jul-Sep	131	19	14.5%	86^th
1973 Oct-Dec	182	51	28.0%	86^th
1974 Jan-Mar	79	11	13.9%	73^rd
1974 Apr-Jun	170	41	24.1%	95^th
1974 Jul-Sep	148	81	54.7%	95^th
1974 Oct-Dec	141	27	19.1%	82^nd
1975 Jan-Mar	68	5	7.4%	70^th
1975 Apr-Jun	199	30	15.1%	85^th
1975 Jul-Sep	154	11	7.1%	58^th
1975 Oct-Dec	191	17	8.9%	70^th
1976 Jan-Mar	106	14	13.2%	76^th
1976 Apr-Jun	267	67	25.1%	88^th
1976 Jul-Sep	281	112	39.9%	91^st
1976 Oct-Oct	7	3	42.9%	82^nd
1977 Jan-Mar	100	62	62.0%	98^th
1977 Apr-Jun	273	48	17.6%	89^th
1977 Jul-Sep	198	31	15.7%	89^th
1977 Oct-Dec	135	30	22.2%	93^rd
1978 Jan-Mar	150	17	11.3%	64^th
1978 Apr-Jun	300	39	13.0%	71^st
1978 Jul-Sep	308	72	23.4%	87^th
1978 Oct-Oct	76	14	18.4%	84^th
1979 Jan-Mar	63	3	4.8%	63^rd
1979 Apr-Jun	221	35	15.8%	81^st
1979 Jul-Sep	198	27	13.6%	81^st
1979 Oct-Dec	190	40	21.1%	85^th
1980 Jan-Mar	148	13	8.8%	53^rd
1980 Apr-Jun	197	64	32.5%	93^rd
1980 Jul-Sep	192	44	22.9%	90^th
1980 Oct-Dec	67	13	19.4%	74^th
1981 Jan-Mar	15	3	20.0%	81^st
1981 Apr-Jun	90	18	20.0%	94^th
1981 Jul-Sep	106	18	17.0%	93^rd
1981 Oct-Dec	142	47	33.1%	99^th
1982 Feb-Mar	48	8	16.7%	80^th
1982 Apr-Jun	119	40	33.6%	98^th
1982 Jul-Sep	193	78	40.4%	98^th
1982 Oct-Dec	99	16	16.2%	76^th
1983 Jan-Mar	43	5	11.6%	65^th
1983 Apr-Jun	182	31	17.0%	90^th
1983 Jul-Sep	130	20	15.4%	96^th
1983 Oct-Nov	143	27	18.9%	95^th
1984 Jan-Mar	53	7	13.2%	75^th
1984 Apr-Jun	223	33	14.8%	87^th
1984 Jul-Sep	96	22	22.9%	96^th
1984 Oct-Oct	36	3	8.3%	57^th
1985 Jan-Mar	36	6	16.7%	84^th
1985 Apr-Jun	154	8	5.2%	61^st
1985 Jul-Sep	101	8	7.9%	68^th
1985 Oct-Dec	148	21	14.2%	97^th
1986 Jan-Mar	61	13	21.3%	91^st
1986 Apr-Jun	128	5	3.9%	53^rd
1986 Jul-Sep	202	48	23.8%	97^th
1986 Oct-Oct	60	8	13.3%	84^th
1987 Jan-Mar	39	4	10.3%	80^th
1987 Apr-Jun	187	18	9.6%	84^th
1987 Jul-Sep	95	21	22.1%	95^th
1987 Oct-Dec	167	33	19.8%	93^rd
1988 Feb-Mar	49	20	40.8%	98^th
1988 Apr-Jun	161	22	13.7%	93^rd
1988 Jul-Sep	152	26	17.1%	91^st
1988 Oct-Oct	89	28	31.5%	95^th
1989 Jan-Mar	14	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Apr-Jun	105	6	5.7%	71^st
1989 Jul-Sep	128	15	11.7%	97^th
1989 Oct-Nov	121	10	8.3%	80^th
1990 Jan-Mar	60	6	10.0%	90^th
1990 Apr-Jun	150	18	12.0%	89^th
1990 Jul-Sep	183	19	10.4%	91^st
1990 Oct-Oct	143	16	11.2%	89^th
1991 Jan-Mar	62	5	8.1%	88^th
1991 Apr-Jun	139	21	15.1%	96^th
1991 Jul-Sep	81	9	11.1%	86^th
1991 Oct-Nov	162	9	5.6%	78^th
1992 Jan-Mar	66	11	16.7%	96^th
1992 Apr-Jun	185	6	3.2%	52^nd
1992 Jul-Sep	196	24	12.2%	91^st
1992 Oct-Oct	41	6	14.6%	87^th
1993 Jan-Mar	127	8	6.3%	86^th
1993 Apr-Jun	190	17	8.9%	85^th
1993 Jul-Sep	164	9	5.5%	83^rd
1993 Oct-Nov	134	6	4.5%	79^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	17	17.9%	97^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	36	16.4%	99^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	17	12.0%	93^rd
1994 Oct-Nov	51	5	9.8%	90^th
1995 Jan-Mar	279	24	8.6%	95^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	14	7.4%	90^th
1995 Jul-Sep	232	18	7.8%	89^th
1995 Oct-Dec	185	17	9.2%	93^rd
1996 Jan-Mar	110	25	22.7%	98^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	19	10.4%	94^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	9	5.5%	83^rd
1997 Jan-Mar	71	23	32.4%	99^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	22	12.6%	97^th
1997 Jul-Sep	232	10	4.3%	78^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	8	4.9%	76^th
1998 Jan-Mar	89	4	4.5%	71^st
1998 Apr-Jun	185	33	17.8%	98^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	27	13.6%	96^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	6	8.1%	85^th
1999 Jan-Mar	77	2	2.6%	54^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	26	14.1%	96^th
1999 Jul-Sep	204	16	7.8%	90^th
1999 Oct-Nov	146	17	11.6%	93^rd
2000 Jan-Mar	95	14	14.7%	91^st
2000 Apr-Jun	277	52	18.8%	97^th
2000 Jul-Sep	130	41	31.5%	98^th
2000 Oct-Dec	101	42	41.6%	95^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
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills