Welcome to the CD 7 Legislative Center. This page has been designed to help answer questions about my votes, how to research legislation and provide details about being a member of Congress. If you have additional questions that cannot be answered here please send me an email by clicking here or contact my office in Washington DC at (202) - 225 - 2645.
What is Happening on the Floor in Congress?
To see what is currently going on in Congress there are a number of resources to use including:
Current Floor Proceedings provided by the Clerk - this will provide the most current summaries of what is happening on the House floor when in session. You can always click the refresh button when votes are occurring to get the most up to date information.
To see streaming or previous videos of floor proceedings including one minutes, debate and votes the Clerk provides these under House Floor Proceedings Videos.
For streaming video of House activity, CSPAN also provides video under their Video Library section
New Media Options:
Stay up to date with House activity by liking the House Chamber or CSPAN on facebook.com.
You can also get a daily update of legislative activity by following CSPAN, the Library of Congress and others on Twitter.com.
Roll Call Votes and How to Read Them
The best way to access Congressman Pelrmutter's voting record is through the Clerk of the House of Representatives. This site maintains a list of votes for each motion and legislation voted on by the full House. These votes are also referred to as "roll call votes."
When looking up votes cast by Congressman Perlmutter or any other member follow these steps:
1. Visit the Clerk's Roll Call Vote webpage. The far left column labeled "Roll" will give the number of the vote. On the right of the column you will see the date the vote was cast. The field marked "Question" explains if vote was on final passage, on an amendment or as otherwise noted. The field marked "Result" is the outcome with the following codes- P = passed, F = failed and A = amendment agreed to. All votes are posted in reverse chronological order, or the most recent at the top.
2. Once you have selected the appropriate bill you are looking for under "Roll" you will see a page with all the members who voted on the bill, and you can scroll down to find Congressman Perlmutter's vote.
3. If you are looking for a vote from a previous year, visit the Clerk's Legislative Activities webpage and select the session of Congress you are looking for under the link Roll Call Votes of Previous Congresses.
4. Finally, we recommend the Clerk's site because their records are fast, complete and unbiased access to all votes cast by Congressman Perlmutter. This is a service readily available to the public. If you still can't find the information you are looking for please click here to send me an email or call my DC office at: (202) - 225 - 2645.
Bills Sponsored and Cosponsored:
If you would like to know what bills I have sponsored and co-sponsored, along with a brief summary of the legislation please see the links below.
112th Congress: (2011-2012)
Legislation Sponsored by Congressman Perlmutter
Legislation Co-Sponsored by Congressman Perlmutter
111th Congress: (2010-2011)
Legislation Sponsored by Congressman Perlmutter
Legislation Co-Sponsored by Congressman Perlmutter
If you want to see a list of other sessions please visit the following link at Thomas.gov. Here you can choose by Congressman Perlmutter and older sessions by clicking on the Sponsoring Summaries link.
How a bill Becomes a law
While my office and many sources provide information about my voting record, sponsorships and co-sponsorships, it's also important to know how the legislative process works.
The United States House of Representatives provides a good, overall view under The Legislative Process.
For a more detailed view on how laws are made Thomas.gov provides: How Laws are Made.
Additional helpful documents include, a history and copy of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Who is a Member of Congress?
Often people ask who is a Member of Congress and what do they do? A Member of Congress is a person serving in the House of Representatives or the Senate. A Member of the House of Representatives is referred to as Representative or Congressman or Congresswoman, and a Member of the Senate is referred to as Senator.
For a detailed explanation of what a Member of Congress does, how a Member is assigned to a committee, the rules a Member must abide by and more visit the United States House of Representatives website under the section: The House Explained-Representatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is required to be a Member of the House of Representatives?
A: Membership requirements are provided in Article I, Section 2 of the US Constitution: "No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen." These requirements cannot be changed without a constitutional amendment.
Q: How big is the House of Representatives, and how is it determined?
A: The current size is 435 Members, this size was established by Public Law 62-5 on August 8, 1911 and took effect in 1913. In addition Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution provides both the minimum and maximum sizes for the House of Representatives. Under this Article and Section, the Constitution provides each state at least one U.S. Representative, while the size of a state's delegation to the House depends on its total population. As the U.S. expands and population changes, constituencies and their number of representatives is determined accordingly.
Q: What is the role of the Speaker of the House?
A: The Speaker acts as leader of the House and combines several roles: the institutional role of presiding officer and administrative head of the House, the partisan role of leader of the majority party in the House, and the representative role of an elected Member of the House. By statute, the Speaker is also second in line, behind the Vice President, to succeed to the presidency.
Q: What is a standing committee?
A: Standing committees are permanent panels identified in Chamber rules, which also list the jurisdiction of each committee. Because they have legislative jurisdiction, standing committees consider bills and issues and recommend measures for consideration by the House. They also have oversight responsibilities to monitor agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions, and in some cases in areas that cut across committee jurisdictions.
Q: What are subcommittees?
A: Most committees form subcommittees with legislative jurisdiction to consider and report bills in particular issues within the purview of the full committee. Committees may assign their subcommittees such specific tasks as the initial consideration of measures and oversight of laws and programs in their areas. Subcommittees are responsible to and work with guidelines established by their parent committees. Consequently, their number, independence, and autonomy vary among committees.
Q: Do Members of Congress pay income tax?
A: The Internal Revenue Code – Title 26 U.S.C. – establishes that anyone who makes over approximately $22,000 a year, regardless of the source of income, must pay an income tax. That covers income from private business, government salaries, military pay, and even unemployment benefits. Congressmen and Senators must pay Federal income taxes like all citizens.
Members of Congress must also pay their share of the FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare, as well as all applicable state and local taxes.
Q: Do Members of Congress' children and family get free college education?
A: According to Title 2, Chapter 4, Section 60c-6, of the U.S. Code, Members of Congress and their families are not given any special student loan repayment privileges. That means no spouse, son, daughter or other relative of a Congressman or Congresswoman receive any beneficial financial treatment when it comes to their educational debt.
Q: Do Members of Congress have to pay for their own healthcare?
A: Members of Congress have the option to purchase private health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, managed by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. It is the same program that is available to all federal workers, and similar to plans offered by many large businesses.
This system offers a variety of plans with different deductibles, co-pays and types of coverage, with the monthly premiums varying depending on the plan. Like many plans offered in private industry, the employer (in this case the federal government) pays two-thirds of the cost and the employee pays the remaining one-third.
For an additional annual fee, Members are allowed to use the Capitol physician’s office for routine personal medical treatment, with referral to either Walter Reed Army Medical Center or Bethesda Naval Hospital care when necessary.
For a full disclosure of my office's disbursements visit the United States House of Representatives site under the Section Open Government-Office Expenses. This provides all of my office's full disbursement reports, and also answers other questions regarding budgeting in the United States House of Representatives.
