Rep. Geraldine Ferraro
Former Representative forNew York’s 9th District
Ferraro was the representative forNew York’s 9th congressional district and was a Democrat. She served from 1979 to 1984.
![Photo of Rep. Geraldine Ferraro [D-NY9, 1979-1984]](/image.pl?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.govtrack.us%2fstatic%2flegislator-photos%2f404046-200px.jpeg&f=jpg&w=240)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Ferraro is shown as a purple triangle▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below.Each dot was a member of the House of Representativesin 1984positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills legislators sponsored and cosponsoredfrom Jan. 15, 1979 to Oct. 11, 1984.See fullanalysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Ferraro was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:
Does 1 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
Ferraro sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Labor and Employment (21%)Health (14%)Transportation and Public Works (14%)International Affairs (14%)Economics and Public Finance (12%)Social Welfare (9%)Government Operations and Politics (9%)Housing and Community Development (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Ferraro recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5568 (98th): Truck Safety Act of 1984
- H.Res. 450 (98th): A resolution to express the sense of the House of Representatives concerning …
- H.R. 4769 (98th): A bill to amend section 3 of the Urban Mass Transportation Act …
- H.J.Res. 416 (98th): A joint resolution to designate April 22, 1984, as “Queen Isabella I …
- H.R. 3449 (98th): Reye’s Syndrome Act of 1983
- H.R. 2639 (98th): Rebuilding of America Act of 1982
- H.R. 2530 (98th): A bill to provide that the Secretary of Transportation may exempt segments …
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1979 to Oct 1984, Ferraro missed 402 of 2,994 roll call votes, which is 13.4%.This ismuch worse thanthe median of 7.0%among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Oct 1984.The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absences, major life events, and running for higher office.
| Time Period | Votes Eligible | Missed Votes | Percent | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 Jan-Mar | 63 | 16 | 25.4% | 91st |
| 1979 Apr-Jun | 221 | 21 | 9.5% | 64th |
| 1979 Jul-Sep | 198 | 19 | 9.6% | 67th |
| 1979 Oct-Dec | 190 | 15 | 7.9% | 41st |
| 1980 Jan-Mar | 148 | 15 | 10.1% | 58th |
| 1980 Apr-Jun | 197 | 14 | 7.1% | 46th |
| 1980 Jul-Sep | 192 | 22 | 11.5% | 68th |
| 1980 Oct-Dec | 67 | 10 | 14.9% | 64th |
| 1981 Jan-Mar | 15 | 4 | 26.7% | 92nd |
| 1981 Apr-Jun | 90 | 13 | 14.4% | 80th |
| 1981 Jul-Sep | 106 | 2 | 1.9% | 27th |
| 1981 Oct-Dec | 142 | 6 | 4.2% | 32nd |
| 1982 Feb-Mar | 48 | 2 | 4.2% | 39th |
| 1982 Apr-Jun | 119 | 14 | 11.8% | 83rd |
| 1982 Jul-Sep | 193 | 10 | 5.2% | 44th |
| 1982 Oct-Dec | 99 | 14 | 14.1% | 72nd |
| 1983 Jan-Mar | 43 | 2 | 4.7% | 31st |
| 1983 Apr-Jun | 182 | 16 | 8.8% | 59th |
| 1983 Jul-Sep | 130 | 5 | 3.8% | 46th |
| 1983 Oct-Nov | 143 | 14 | 9.8% | 70th |
| 1984 Jan-Mar | 53 | 3 | 5.7% | 45th |
| 1984 Apr-Jun | 223 | 54 | 24.2% | 95th |
| 1984 Jul-Sep | 96 | 76 | 79.2% | 100th |
| 1984 Oct-Oct | 36 | 35 | 97.2% | 100th |
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
- 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
