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Rep. Terri Sewell

Representative for Alabama’s 7th District

pronounced TEH-ree // SOO-ul

Sewell is the representative for Alabama’s 7th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 5, 2011. Sewell’s current term ends on Jan 3, 2025. She is 59 years old.

Photo of Rep. Terri Sewell [D-AL7]

Earmarks

Sewell proposed $51 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:

  • $18 million to Mobile District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for “SELMA FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT AND BANK STABILIZATION, AL”
  • $5 million to Hale County Healthcare Authority for “Hale County Healthcare Authority Emergency Department”
  • $4 million to The Town of Pennington for “The Town of Pennington Multi-Purpose Facility Project”

These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.

Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Sewell is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives 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 have sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Nov 26, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Terri Sewell sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Sewell was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:

View All »

Does 6 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

Sewell sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (56%) Taxation (25%) Government Operations and Politics (8%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Sewell recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Sewell voted Nay

Passed 320/71 on Dec 11, 2023.

Sewell voted Yea

Sewell voted Nay

Sewell voted Aye

Passed 234/180 on Mar 7, 2018.
H.R. 1917 addresses the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Brick and Structural Clay Products Manufacturing and for …

Sewell voted No

Passed 360/61 on Dec 8, 2016.
The WIIN (Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation) Act was a 277-page bill dealing with federal water policies, particularly for drought-stricken areas. It’s so complex …

Sewell voted Yea

Sewell voted Aye

Passed 218/208 on Jun 18, 2015.
This vote made H.R. 2146 the vehicle for passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. …

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted Aye

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.
The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2011 to Nov 2024, Sewell missed 354 of 8,499 roll call votes, which is 4.2%. This is worse than the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. 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.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: