Widnall was the representative for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1949 to 1974.
![Photo of Rep. William Widnall [R-NJ7, 1949-1974]](/static/legislator-photos/411602-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Widnall is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1974 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 Widnall sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1973 to Dec 20, 1974. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Widnall was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 9524 (93rd): A bill to provide for the appointment of alternates for the Governors of the International Monetary Fund and of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
- H.R. 6092 (93rd): A bill to amend section 14(b) of the Federal Reserve Act, as amended, to extend for 2 years the authority of Federal Reserve banks to purchase U. …
Does 2 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
Widnall sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Housing and Community Development (30%) Finance and Financial Sector (24%) Private Legislation (15%) Government Operations and Politics (12%) Economics and Public Finance (6%) International Affairs (6%) Transportation and Public Works (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Widnall recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 17487 (93rd): A bill for the relief of Yaroslav L. Tiajoloff.
- H.R. 17350 (93rd): Equal Credit Opportunity Act Amendments
- H.R. 17050 (93rd): Emergency Housing Finance Assistance Act
- H.R. 15122 (93rd): Barrier-Free Transportation Act
- H.R. 14387 (93rd): Barrier Free Environments Act
- H.R. 14080 (93rd): Housing Act for Older Americans and the Handicapped
- H.J.Res. 864 (93rd): Joint resolution to amend the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Feb 1950 to Dec 1974, Widnall missed 407 of 4,507 roll call votes, which is 9.0%. This is on par with the median of 9.7% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 1974. 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
- 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
