Frist was a senator from Tennessee and was a Republican. He served from 1995 to 2006.
![Photo of Sen. William “Bill” Frist [R-TN, 1995-2006]](/static/legislator-photos/300045-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Frist is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2006 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 Frist sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 22, 2001 to Dec 8, 2006. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Frist was the primary sponsor of 15 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3728 (109th): North Korea Nonproliferation Act of 2006
- S.J.Res. 40 (109th): A joint resolution authorizing the printing and binding of a supplement to, and revised edition of, Senate Procedure.
- S. 955 (109th): Franklin National Battlefield Study Act
- S. 686 (109th): Terri Schiavo Incapacitated Protection bill
- S. 2986 (108th): A bill to amend title 31 of the United States Code to increase the public debt limit.
- S. 494 (107th): Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001
- S. 3201 (106th): A bill to rename the National Museum of American Art.
Does 15 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
Frist sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (29%) Law (16%) International Affairs (11%) Economics and Public Finance (10%) Crime and Law Enforcement (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Health (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (8%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Frist recently introduced the following legislation:
- S.Res. 629 (109th): A resolution establishing a procedure for affixing and removing permanent artwork and …
- S.Res. 626 (109th): A resolution relating to the retirement of Linda E. Sebold.
- S.Res. 625 (109th): A resolution extending the authority for the Senate National Security Working Group.
- S.Res. 616 (109th): A resolution authorizing the Majority Leader and one staff member to travel …
- S. 4052 (109th): North Korea Refugee Relief and Reconstruction Act of 2006
- S. 4024 (109th): Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act
- S. 3946 (109th): Community Protection Against International Gangs Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1995 to Dec 2006, Frist missed 39 of 4,156 roll call votes, which is 0.9%. This is better than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2006. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
