Rep. Spencer Bachus

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2014 Report Card for Bachus.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Bachus is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2014 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 Bachus sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2009 to Dec 11, 2014. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Bachus was the primary sponsor of 8 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• H.R. 6345 (109th): To make a conforming amendment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act with respect to examinations of certain insured depository institutions, and for other purposes.
• H.R. 2768 (108th): John Marshall Commemorative Coin Act
• H.R. 2622 (108th): Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003
• H.R. 23 (108th): Tornado Shelters Act
• H.J.Res. 102 (106th): Recognizing that the Birmingham Pledge has made a significant contribution in fostering racial harmony and reconciliation in the United States and around the world, and for other …
• H.R. 5273 (106th): United States Mint Numismatic Coin Clarification Act of 2000
• H.R. 1715 (106th): Defense Production Act Amendments of 1999

View All »

Does 8 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

Bachus sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Finance and Financial Sector (54%) Housing and Community Development (31%) Armed Forces and National Security (15%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Bachus recently introduced the following legislation:

• H.R. 5421 (113th): Financial Institution Bankruptcy Act of 2014
• H.R. 5320 (113th): To direct the Attorney General to provide State officials with access to …
• H.Res. 528 (113th): Expressing support for designation of March 2014 as “National Multiple Myeloma Awareness …
• H.Res. 395 (113th): Recognizing Birmingham, Alabama, as home to the first and longest-running celebration of …
• H.R. 2542 (113th): Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2013
• H.R. 2446 (113th): Responsible Consumer Financial Protection Regulations Act of 2013
• H.R. 2379 (113th): Qualified Mortgage Loan Originator Transitional Authority Act of 2013

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 1993 to Dec 2014, Bachus missed 535 of 14,635 roll call votes, which is 3.7%. This is worse than the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2014. 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...

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
• GPO Member Guide for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills