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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dec. 17, 2011 | National | S Amdt 1465 | Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Extension | Amendment Adopted - Senate (89 - 10) |
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. 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. 1, 2011 | National | S 1931 | Reduces Payroll Tax Rate | Motion Rejected - Senate (20 - 78) |
Dec. 1, 2011 | National | S 1917 | Extends Payroll Tax Cut and Establishes Tax on Income Over $1 Million | Motion Rejected - Senate (51 - 49) |
Nov. 10, 2011 | National | S Amdt 928 | American Jobs and Economic Growth | Amendment Rejected - Senate (40 - 56) |
Nov. 3, 2011 | National | S 1769 | Transportation Infrastructure Appropriations and Tax on Income Over $1 Million | Motion Rejected - Senate (51 - 49) |
Oct. 11, 2011 | National | S 1660 | American Jobs Act of 2011 | Cloture Not Invoked - Senate (50 - 49) |
June 14, 2011 | National | S Amdt 436 | Repeals the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax | Cloture Not Invoked - Senate (40 - 59) |
May 17, 2011 | National | S 940 | Amending Oil Company Tax Laws | Motion Rejected - Senate (52 - 48) |
Feb. 2, 2011 | National | S Amdt 9 | Repealing the IRS 1099 Provision from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | Motion Agreed - Senate (81 - 17) |
Feb. 2, 2011 | National | S Amdt 28 | Repealing the IRS 1099 Provision from the Health Care Bill | Amendment Rejected - Senate (44 - 54) |