Sen. Jim Bunning
Former Senator for Kentucky
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Bunning is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2010 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 Bunning sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 24, 2005 to Dec 22, 2010. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Bunning was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- S. 524 (108th): Fort Donelson National Battlefield Expansion Act of 2004
- S. 2238 (108th): Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenaur Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004
- S. 1768 (108th): National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2004
- S. 439 (108th): Social Security Protection Act of 2003
- H.R. 2841 (105th): To extend the time required for the construction of a hydroelectric project.
- H.R. 2778 (104th): To provide that members of the Armed Forces performing services for the peacekeeping effort in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be entitled to certain tax …
- H.R. 3238 (100th): A bill for the relief of Maria Linda Sy Gonzalez.
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
Bunning sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Foreign Trade and International Finance (34%) Government Operations and Politics (13%) Taxation (12%) Finance and Financial Sector (11%) Energy (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Commerce (8%) Law (8%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Bunning recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 4002 (111th): A bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to issue expeditiously special …
- S. 3933 (111th): Electricity Reliability Protection Act of 2010
- S.Res. 653 (111th): A resolution designating October 30, 2010, as a national day of remembrance …
- S. 3094 (111th): A bill to allow individuals to elect to opt out of the …
- S. 2916 (111th): A bill to provide that Internal Revenue Service Notice 2010-2 shall have …
- S. 2816 (111th): Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act
- S. 2658 (111th): A bill to extend temporarily the suspension of duty on strontium magnesium …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1999 to Dec 2010, Bunning missed 146 of 3,978 roll call votes, which is 3.7%. This is worse than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2010. 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