Rep. Erik Paulsen
Former Representative for Minnesota’s 3rd District
pronounced erik // PAWL-sun
Paulsen was the representative for Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2009 to 2018.
![Photo of Rep. Erik Paulsen [R-MN3, 2009-2018]](/static/legislator-photos/412303-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Paulsen.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Paulsen is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018 positioned 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 cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Dec 21, 2018. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Paulsen was the primary sponsor of 10 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 5775 (115th): Providing Reliable Options for Patients and Educational Resources Act of 2018
- H.R. 5686 (115th): Medicare Clear Health Options in Care for Enrollees Act of 2018
- H.R. 4601 (115th): Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2017
- H.R. 3084 (115th): Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act
- H.R. 747 (115th): Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2017
- H.R. 3209 (114th): Recovering Missing Children Act
- H.R. 2482 (114th): Preservation Enhancement and Savings Opportunity Act of 2015
Does 10 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
Paulsen sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Recently Introduced Bills
Paulsen recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.Res. 1184 (115th): Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 15th anniversary …
- H.R. 7177 (115th): Shared Accountability for Improved Patient Outcomes Act of 2018
- H.R. 7157 (115th): Chiropractic Patients’ Freedom of Choice Act of 2018
- H.R. 7122 (115th): Shared Accountability for Improved Patient Outcomes Act of 2018
- H.Res. 1135 (115th): Raising awareness of the lifesaving role of three-dimensional (3D) digital breast tomosynthesis …
- H.R. 7083 (115th): Access to Genetic Counselor Services Act of 2018
- H.R. 7021 (115th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for distributions …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2009 to Dec 2018, Paulsen missed 70 of 7,000 roll call votes, which is 1.0%. This is better than the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2018. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
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
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
