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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
July 23, 1998 | National | HR 1122 | Partial-Birth/Late-Term Abortion bill | Veto Override Passed - House (296 - 132) |
Nov. 6, 2007 | National | HR 1495 | Water Resources Development Act of 2007 | Veto Override Passed - House (361 - 54) |
July 15, 2008 | National | HR 6331 | Medicare Bill | Veto Override Passed - House (383 - 41) |
June 18, 2008 | National | HR 6124 | Second Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - Senate (80 - 14) |
July 15, 2008 | National | HR 6331 | Medicare Bill | Veto Override Passed - Senate (70 - 26) |
June 18, 2008 | National | HR 6124 | Second Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - House (317 - 109) |
Sept. 19, 1996 | National | HR 1833 | Partial-Birth/Late-Term Abortion Ban | Veto Override Passed - House (285 - 137) |
May 21, 2008 | National | HR 2419 | Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - House (316 - 108) |
Feb. 25, 1998 | National | HR 2631 | Line Item Veto Cancellation bill | Veto Override Passed - Senate (78 - 20) |
May 22, 2008 | National | HR 2419 | Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - Senate (82 - 13) |
Feb. 5, 1998 | National | HR 2631 | Line Item Veto Cancellation bill | Veto Override Passed - House (347 - 69) |
Nov. 8, 2007 | National | HR 1495 | Water Resources Development Act of 2007 | Veto Override Passed - Senate (79 - 14) |
Dec. 20, 1995 | National | HR 1058 | Legal Reform bill | Veto Override Passed - House (319 - 100) |
Dec. 22, 1995 | National | HR 1058 | Legal Reform bill | Veto Override Passed - Senate (68 - 30) |
Jan. 3, 1996 | National | HR 1530 | Authorization bill FY96, Defense Department | Veto Override Passed - House (240 - 156) |
Sept. 30, 1992 | National | HR 5318 | Conditional Extension of Most-Favored-Nation Trade Status to China | Veto Override Passed - House (345 - 74) |
April 28, 2009 | National | PN 188 | Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (65 - 31) |
Dec. 7, 2006 | National | PN 1396 | Andrew von Eschenbach, Commissioner of Food and Drugs | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (80 - 11) |
Feb. 3, 2005 | National | PN 12 | Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (60 - 36) |
Feb. 3, 2000 | National | PN 729 | Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (89 - 4) |
Jan. 30, 2001 | National | PN 96 | Gale Ann Norton, Secretary of the Interior | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (75 - 24) |
June 9, 2005 | National | PN 200 | William H. Pryor, Jr., Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (53 - 45) |
Oct. 28, 2003 | National | PN 884 | Michael Leavitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency | (88 - 8) |
April 30, 1997 | National | PN 82 | Alexis M. Herman, Secretary of Labor | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (85 - 13) |
Feb. 1, 2001 | National | PN 107 | John Ashcroft, Attorney General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (58 - 42) |
June 8, 2005 | National | PN 201 | Janice R Brown, Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (56 - 43) |
May 25, 2005 | National | PN 194 | Priscilla R. Owen, Fifth Circuit Judge | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (55 - 43) |
April 19, 1994 | National | PN 1210 | Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, Retiring | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (54 - 43) |
Aug. 3, 1993 | National | PN 422 | Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (96 - 3) |
Jan. 31, 2006 | National | PN 1059 | Samuel Alito, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (58 - 42) |
June 14, 2005 | National | PN 202 | Thomas B. Griffith, Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (73 - 24) |
Jan. 26, 2009 | National | PN 64-6 | Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (60 - 34) |
Dec. 6, 2006 | National | PN 2191 | Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (95 - 2) |
Jan. 26, 2005 | National | PN 8 | Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (85 - 13) |
June 20, 1996 | National | PN 951 | Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (91 - 7) |
June 20, 1996 | National | PN 953 | Alice M. Rivlin, Federal Reserve Vice-Chair | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (57 - 41) |
Sept. 7, 1993 | National | PN 452 | M. Joycelyn Elders, United States Surgeon General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (65 - 34) |
Sept. 29, 2005 | National | PN 801 | Judge John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court | (78 - 22) |
Aug. 6, 2009 | National | PN 506 | Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (68 - 31) |
Aug. 5, 1999 | National | PN 100 | Richard Holbrooke, Representative to the United Nations | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (81 - 16) |
Jan. 28, 2010 | National | PN 959 | Ben S. Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (70 - 30) |
Nov. 8, 2007 | National | PN 958 | Michael B. Mukasey, Attorney General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (53 - 40) |
Feb. 10, 1998 | National | PN 623 | David Satcher, Surgeon General of the Public Health Service | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (63 - 35) |
May 26, 2006 | National | PN 1552 | Michael Hayden, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (78 - 15) |
July 29, 1994 | National | PN 1399 | Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (87 - 9) |
June 20, 2000 | National | S Amdt 3252 | Military Abortions Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (50 - 49) |
June 30, 1994 | National | S Amdt 2127 | Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor Termination Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (52 - 46) |
Dec. 23, 2009 | National | HR 3590 | Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | Cloture Invoked - Senate (60 - 39) |
July 9, 2008 | National | HR 6331 | Medicare Bill | Cloture Invoked - Senate (69 - 30) |
June 28, 2000 | National | S Amdt 3655 | Funding for Special Education Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (51 - 47) |
Sept. 22, 1993 | National | S Amdt 910 | Advanced Solid Rocket Motor Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (53 - 47) |
Sept. 7, 2006 | National | S Amdt 4909 | Media in the Middle East Amendment | Bill Tabled - Senate (51 - 44) |
April 6, 2000 | National | S Amdt 2955 | Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (51 - 49) |
July 15, 2008 | National | S Amdt 5078 | Limiting Countries for HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Funding | Amendment Tabled - Senate (70 - 24) |
June 27, 1996 | National | H Res 468 | Investigation of Speaker Newt Gingrich | Resolution Tabled - House (229 - 170) |
July 26, 2007 | National | S Amdt 2405 | REAL ID Funding | Amendment Tabled - Senate (50 - 44) |
Aug. 3, 1994 | National | S Amdt 2446 | Ethanol Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (51 - 50) |
April 15, 1997 | National | S Amdt 31 | Yucca Mountain Alternate Sites amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (59 - 39) |
June 24, 1998 | National | S Amdt 2912 | Bosnia and Herzegovina Withdrawal Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (65 - 31) |
March 25, 1999 | National | S Amdt 178 | Agricultural Appropriations Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (53 - 45) |
May 22, 1997 | National | S Amdt 301 | Budget Deficit Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (52 - 47) |
Sept. 13, 2000 | National | S Amdt 4132 | China Nonproliferation Act | Amendment Tabled - Senate (65 - 32) |
March 23, 1995 | National | S Amdt 350 | Pay-As-You-Go Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (49 - 48) |
Aug. 10, 1995 | National | S Amdt 2401 | Space-Based Laser Program Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (57 - 41) |
March 6, 1998 | National | S Amdt 1708 | Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (58 - 37) |
Nov. 9, 1999 | National | S Amdt 2751 | Two Year Minimum Wage Increase Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (50 - 48) |
June 22, 1999 | National | S Amdt 702 | Patients' Bill of Rights Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (53 - 47) |
May 24, 2005 | National | PN 194 | Priscilla R. Owen, Fifth Circuit Judge | Cloture Invoked - Senate (81 - 18) |
July 25, 1994 | National | S Amdt 2396 | Prohibition of Funds to National Endowments for the Arts for Certain Projects | Amendment Tabled - Senate (49 - 42) |
Feb. 4, 1993 | National | S Amdt 19 | Homosexual Discrimination in the Military Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (62 - 37) |
July 22, 1993 | National | S Amdt 608 | National Service Educational Awards Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (55 - 44) |
Dec. 22, 2009 | National | S Amdt 2786 | Health Care and Insurance Law Amendments | Cloture Invoked - Senate (60 - 39) |
Dec. 8, 2009 | National | S Amdt 2962 | Prohibiting Federally Funded Abortion Services | Amendment Tabled - Senate (54 - 45) |
Feb. 22, 2010 | National | HR 2847 | Employment, Infrastructure, and Transportation Appropriations and Tax Credits ("Senate Jobs Bill") | Cloture Invoked - Senate (62 - 30) |
Oct. 15, 1993 | National | S Amdt 1043 | Ending Military Operations in Somalia | Amendment Tabled - Senate (61 - 38) |
Date | No. | Title | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|
7/23 | HR 1122 | Partial-Birth/Late-Term Abortion bill | Veto Override Passed - House (296 - 132) |
11/06 | HR 1495 | Water Resources Development Act of 2007 | Veto Override Passed - House (361 - 54) |
7/15 | HR 6331 | Medicare Bill | Veto Override Passed - House (383 - 41) |
6/18 | HR 6124 | Second Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - Senate (80 - 14) |
7/15 | HR 6331 | Medicare Bill | Veto Override Passed - Senate (70 - 26) |
6/18 | HR 6124 | Second Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - House (317 - 109) |
9/19 | HR 1833 | Partial-Birth/Late-Term Abortion Ban | Veto Override Passed - House (285 - 137) |
5/21 | HR 2419 | Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - House (316 - 108) |
2/25 | HR 2631 | Line Item Veto Cancellation bill | Veto Override Passed - Senate (78 - 20) |
5/22 | HR 2419 | Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill) | Veto Override Passed - Senate (82 - 13) |
2/05 | HR 2631 | Line Item Veto Cancellation bill | Veto Override Passed - House (347 - 69) |
11/08 | HR 1495 | Water Resources Development Act of 2007 | Veto Override Passed - Senate (79 - 14) |
12/20 | HR 1058 | Legal Reform bill | Veto Override Passed - House (319 - 100) |
12/22 | HR 1058 | Legal Reform bill | Veto Override Passed - Senate (68 - 30) |
1/03 | HR 1530 | Authorization bill FY96, Defense Department | Veto Override Passed - House (240 - 156) |
9/30 | HR 5318 | Conditional Extension of Most-Favored-Nation Trade Status to China | Veto Override Passed - House (345 - 74) |
4/28 | PN 188 | Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (65 - 31) |
12/07 | PN 1396 | Andrew von Eschenbach, Commissioner of Food and Drugs | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (80 - 11) |
2/03 | PN 12 | Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (60 - 36) |
2/03 | PN 729 | Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (89 - 4) |
1/30 | PN 96 | Gale Ann Norton, Secretary of the Interior | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (75 - 24) |
6/09 | PN 200 | William H. Pryor, Jr., Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (53 - 45) |
10/28 | PN 884 | Michael Leavitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency | (88 - 8) |
4/30 | PN 82 | Alexis M. Herman, Secretary of Labor | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (85 - 13) |
2/01 | PN 107 | John Ashcroft, Attorney General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (58 - 42) |
6/08 | PN 201 | Janice R Brown, Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (56 - 43) |
5/25 | PN 194 | Priscilla R. Owen, Fifth Circuit Judge | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (55 - 43) |
4/19 | PN 1210 | Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, Retiring | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (54 - 43) |
8/03 | PN 422 | Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (96 - 3) |
1/31 | PN 1059 | Samuel Alito, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (58 - 42) |
6/14 | PN 202 | Thomas B. Griffith, Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (73 - 24) |
1/26 | PN 64-6 | Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (60 - 34) |
12/06 | PN 2191 | Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (95 - 2) |
1/26 | PN 8 | Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (85 - 13) |
6/20 | PN 951 | Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (91 - 7) |
6/20 | PN 953 | Alice M. Rivlin, Federal Reserve Vice-Chair | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (57 - 41) |
9/07 | PN 452 | M. Joycelyn Elders, United States Surgeon General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (65 - 34) |
9/29 | PN 801 | Judge John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court | (78 - 22) |
8/06 | PN 506 | Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (68 - 31) |
8/05 | PN 100 | Richard Holbrooke, Representative to the United Nations | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (81 - 16) |
1/28 | PN 959 | Ben S. Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (70 - 30) |
11/08 | PN 958 | Michael B. Mukasey, Attorney General | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (53 - 40) |
2/10 | PN 623 | David Satcher, Surgeon General of the Public Health Service | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (63 - 35) |
5/26 | PN 1552 | Michael Hayden, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (78 - 15) |
7/29 | PN 1399 | Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice | Nomination Confirmed - Senate (87 - 9) |
6/20 | S Amdt 3252 | Military Abortions Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (50 - 49) |
6/30 | S Amdt 2127 | Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor Termination Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (52 - 46) |
12/23 | HR 3590 | Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | Cloture Invoked - Senate (60 - 39) |
7/09 | HR 6331 | Medicare Bill | Cloture Invoked - Senate (69 - 30) |
6/28 | S Amdt 3655 | Funding for Special Education Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (51 - 47) |
9/22 | S Amdt 910 | Advanced Solid Rocket Motor Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (53 - 47) |
9/07 | S Amdt 4909 | Media in the Middle East Amendment | Bill Tabled - Senate (51 - 44) |
4/06 | S Amdt 2955 | Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (51 - 49) |
7/15 | S Amdt 5078 | Limiting Countries for HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Funding | Amendment Tabled - Senate (70 - 24) |
6/27 | H Res 468 | Investigation of Speaker Newt Gingrich | Resolution Tabled - House (229 - 170) |
7/26 | S Amdt 2405 | REAL ID Funding | Amendment Tabled - Senate (50 - 44) |
8/03 | S Amdt 2446 | Ethanol Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (51 - 50) |
4/15 | S Amdt 31 | Yucca Mountain Alternate Sites amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (59 - 39) |
6/24 | S Amdt 2912 | Bosnia and Herzegovina Withdrawal Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (65 - 31) |
3/25 | S Amdt 178 | Agricultural Appropriations Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (53 - 45) |
5/22 | S Amdt 301 | Budget Deficit Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (52 - 47) |
9/13 | S Amdt 4132 | China Nonproliferation Act | Amendment Tabled - Senate (65 - 32) |
3/23 | S Amdt 350 | Pay-As-You-Go Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (49 - 48) |
8/10 | S Amdt 2401 | Space-Based Laser Program Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (57 - 41) |
3/06 | S Amdt 1708 | Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (58 - 37) |
11/09 | S Amdt 2751 | Two Year Minimum Wage Increase Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (50 - 48) |
6/22 | S Amdt 702 | Patients' Bill of Rights Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (53 - 47) |
5/24 | PN 194 | Priscilla R. Owen, Fifth Circuit Judge | Cloture Invoked - Senate (81 - 18) |
7/25 | S Amdt 2396 | Prohibition of Funds to National Endowments for the Arts for Certain Projects | Amendment Tabled - Senate (49 - 42) |
2/04 | S Amdt 19 | Homosexual Discrimination in the Military Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (62 - 37) |
7/22 | S Amdt 608 | National Service Educational Awards Amendment | Amendment Tabled - Senate (55 - 44) |
12/22 | S Amdt 2786 | Health Care and Insurance Law Amendments | Cloture Invoked - Senate (60 - 39) |
12/08 | S Amdt 2962 | Prohibiting Federally Funded Abortion Services | Amendment Tabled - Senate (54 - 45) |
2/22 | HR 2847 | Employment, Infrastructure, and Transportation Appropriations and Tax Credits ("Senate Jobs Bill") | Cloture Invoked - Senate (62 - 30) |
10/15 | S Amdt 1043 | Ending Military Operations in Somalia | Amendment Tabled - Senate (61 - 38) |