Rep. Donald Payne
Former Representative for New Jersey’s 10th District
Payne was the representative for New Jersey’s 10th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1989 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10, 1989-2012]](/https/www.govtrack.us/static/legislator-photos/400312-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Payne is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives 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 Payne sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 1, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Payne was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 165 (111th): Act Commemorating the LITE
- H.R. 3432 (110th): Commission on the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Act
- H.J.Res. 213 (103rd): Designating July 2, 1993 and July 2, 1994 as “National Literacy Day”.
- H.J.Res. 499 (102nd): Designating July 2, 1992, as “National Literacy Day”.
- H.J.Res. 259 (102nd): Designating July 2, 1991, as “National Literacy Day”.
- H.J.Res. 530 (101st): Designating July 2, 1990, as “National Literacy Day”.
- H.J.Res. 277 (101st): Designating July 2, 1989, as “National Literacy Day”.
Does 7 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
Payne sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (28%) Education (21%) Government Operations and Politics (10%) Health (9%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (9%) Economics and Public Finance (8%) Social Welfare (7%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Payne recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 4141 (112th): International Food Assistance Improvement Act of 2012
- H.R. 4130 (112th): Althea Gibson Excellence Act
- H.R. 4113 (112th): To amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of …
- H.Res. 555 (112th): To commemorate the life and accomplishments of Whitney Elizabeth Houston over the …
- H.Res. 452 (112th): Recognizing the importance labor unions play in ensuring a strong middle class …
- H.R. 2896 (112th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at …
- H.R. 2792 (112th): African Higher Education Advancement and Development Act of 2011
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1989 to Mar 2012, Payne missed 1,153 of 14,706 roll call votes, which is 7.8%. This is much worse than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 2012. 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
- 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