Vote Smart provides easy access to congressional and state voting records and maintains a collection of key votes grouped by issue. Vote Smart uses the following criteria to select key votes:
Vote Smart provides a summary of the version of the bill text associated with each selected key vote. Our summaries are written by Vote Smart's staff and interns, who adhere to our strict policies and procedures in order to guarantee absolute impartiality and accuracy. They do not necessarily reflect the content of the final version of the bill, but rather the version voted on in that stage. While many procedural votes take place before a full chamber vote, our voting stages reflect the final reading of each chamber vote. Each key vote selection is reviewed by the project's community of advisors, who are political scientists and journalists from all fifty states.
For more information about the legislative process, see here.
Date | State | Bill No. | Title | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|
March 2, 2011 | National | S Amdt 115 | Calling for a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment | Amendment Rejected - Senate (58 - 40) |
June 23, 2011 | National | S Amdt 499 | Prohibits the Appointment of Presidential "Czars" Without Senate Approval | Amendment Rejected - Senate (47 - 51) |
June 23, 2011 | National | S Amdt 499 | Prohibits the Appointment of Presidential "Czars" Without Senate Approval | Amendment Rejected - Senate (47 - 51) |
July 22, 2011 | National | HR 2560 | Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011 | Bill Tabled - Senate (51 - 46) |
July 29, 2011 | National | S 627 | Increasing the Debt Ceiling (Boehner Bill) | Bill Tabled - Senate (59 - 41) |
July 31, 2011 | National | S 627 | Increasing the Debt Ceiling (Reid Bill) | Cloture Not Invoked - Senate (50 - 49) |
Aug. 2, 2011 | National | S 365 | Budget Control Act of 2011 | Concurrence Vote Passed - Senate (74 - 26) |
Nov. 10, 2011 | National | S J Res 27 | Disapproval of EPA Cross-Border Pollution Rule | Motion Rejected - Senate (41 - 56) |
Dec. 14, 2011 | National | S J Res 24 | Proposing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Udall Bill) | Amendment Rejected - Senate (21 - 79) |
Dec. 14, 2011 | National | S J Res 10 | Proposing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Hatch Bill) | Amendment Rejected - Senate (47 - 53) |
Dec. 6, 2011 | National | PN 5 | Nomination of Caitlin Joan Halligan to the District of Columbia Circuit Court | Cloture Not Invoked - Senate (54 - 45) |