Sen. Ben Nelson
Former Senator for Nebraska
Nelson was a senator from Nebraska and was a Democrat. He served from 2001 to 2012.
![Photo of Sen. Ben Nelson [D-NE, 2001-2012]](/https/www.govtrack.us/static/legislator-photos/300077-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Nelson is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2013 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 Nelson sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 2, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Nelson was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- S. 1294 (111th): Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2010
- S. 731 (111th): A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for continuity of TRICARE Standard coverage for certain members of the Retired Reserve.
- S. 3009 (110th): A bill to designate the Federal Bureau of Investigation building under construction in Omaha, Nebraska, as the “J. James Exon Federal Bureau of Investigation Building”.
- S. 752 (110th): Platte River Recovery Implementation Program and Pathfinder Modification Authorization Act of 2007
Does 4 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
Nelson sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Foreign Trade and International Finance (38%) Health (21%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%) Finance and Financial Sector (8%) Taxation (8%) Transportation and Public Works (5%) Housing and Community Development (5%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (5%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Nelson recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 3712 (112th): Boys Town Centennial Commemorative Coin Act
- S. 3541 (112th): A bill to amend section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 …
- S.Res. 548 (112th): A resolution designating the week beginning September 9, 2012, as “National Direct …
- S.Res. 550 (112th): A resolution designating September 13, 2012, as “National Celiac Disease Awareness Day”.
- S. 3374 (112th): A bill to amend the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 to …
- S. 2633 (112th): A bill to extend and modify the temporary reduction of duty on …
- S. 2625 (112th): A bill to extend the temporary suspension of duty on Cyproconazole.
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2001 to Jan 2013, Nelson missed 40 of 3,792 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is better than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Jan 2013. 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
