Before Mike Pence was Donald Trump’s running mate, he served in Congress for 12 years.
Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, represented Indiana’s 2nd and 6th congressional districts in Congress from 2001 to 2012. Pence saw his main introduction to the national spotlight last year as he supported a state “religious freedom” bill — subsequently signed in a watered-down form — that many analysts thought would legalize discrimination against gays by private businesses in his state. Yet comparatively little has been publicized about Pence’s time in the House. What does his tenure in Congress say about how he may approach the vice presidency?
Pence introduced 63 bills during his time in Congress and zero became law — not even his Child Pornography Prevention Act. That statistic may raise a few eyebrows, especially considering Trump repeatedly claimed that his running mate needed to be able to “get things done in Washington.” (Other publications reporting that he introduced 90 bills are including his 27 resolutions, which, procedurally, cannot be enacted as law.)
But it doesn’t tell the full story. For one thing, six of Pence’s 14 years in Congress were during the presidency of President Obama, a Democrat unlikely to sign Republican-introduced legislation into law. In the two years before that, Democrats controlled the House.
He also may have been focusing on his role in his party’s leadership. Pence served as House Republican Conference Chair for the 2009–10 term, the third-ranking Republican position at the time behind then-Rep. John Boehner (then Minority Leader, later Speaker of the House) and then-Rep. Eric Cantor (then Minority Whip, later Majority Leader). With Cantor’s primary defeat in 2014 and Boehner’s resignation in 2015 amid a likely coup from within his party, Pence could have risen to a higher position had he remained in the House, perhaps even Speaker.
Looking at policy, during his tenure in Congress Pence:
- Voted to authorize the Iraq War in 2002. Only six Republicans voted against the measure, with most supporting the effort and not wanting to buck President George W. Bush. Pence has continued to defend his vote, a departure from many supporters at the time who have since publicly come to regret their decision. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also voted for the war. Trump now claims his stance was opposition from the start, although he was on record as supporting it in a 2002 interview.
- Voted for several free trade agreements. Trump’s opposition to free trade agreements have been among the hallmarks of his campaign, notably the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) currently pending in Congress, which he controversially called “a rape of our country.” Pence voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in 2005 which passed by a razor thin 217–215 margin, and also free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea in 2011.
- Supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2006. The measure received far more “yes” than “no” votes with a 236–187 margin, but needed a two-thirds vote of 290 to pass. This could be seen as a possible precursor to Pence’s support of the “religious freedom” bill in Indiana several years later that was perceived as protecting anti-LGBT discrimination.
- Voted against Obamacare and voted to repeal it once enacted. Pence voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, perhaps President Obama’s signature domestic achievement, in 2010, as did every Republican. He also voted to repeal the law in 2011, and compared the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision to uphold the constitutionality of the law to the September 11 attacks.
- Proposed a fairly moderate immigration plan in 2006. Pence’s proposal was similar to a plan suggested at the time by Republican President George W. Bush, although it seems quaint compared to Trump’s plan to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the country and “build a wall and make Mexico pay for it.” Pence’s plan did not require all undocumented immigrants to be deported, but did prevent them from having a pathway to citizenship and required them to “self-deport” and be allowed back in the country if they had a job. Oddly, the plan which he announced in March 2006 was never introduced by Pence in the House that year or during the remainder of Bush’s presidency. Pence voted for the main immigration bill in the House in 2005, the last major attempt by the House to craft a compromise on the issue, and although the bill passed the House it did not receive a Senate vote.
- Endorsed a constitutional amendment creating a federal spending limit of 20 percent of the national economy. Actual spending was 23.4 percent in 2010, when Pence co-sponsored the amendment. Partly as a result of the 2013 “sequestration,” spending has is now reduced to 20.7 percent, without needing a constitutional amendment. Trump’s budget plan would almost certainly raise federal spending as a percentage of GDP, unless GDP soars spectacularly under a massively improved American economy.
GovTrack’s ideology analysis placed Pence as one of the most conservative members of Congress during his last year in Congress, further to the right than all but about 20 members of the House in 2013. That was after House Republicans moved far rightward in 2010–2012 when conservative Tea Party upstarts won their seats.
His stark conservatism was one of the main reasons Trump picked him, as Trump’s perceived lack of religious faith, previous registration as a Democrat, and deviation from issues of conservative orthodoxy such as maintaining a low minimum wage required him to placate a restless conservative base within the party.
Pence missed 5.3 percent of House votes, according to GovTrack’s count of roll call votes. (That number drops to 4.8 percent excluding his time in transition to the Indiana governor’s office, when he missed almost all votes.) That’s higher than the 2.6 percent median among House members at the time.
Pence served on the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees during his final term in Congress. He had also previously served on the Agriculture, International Relations, and Small Business Committees.
He had previously lost races as the Republican nominee for the House in 1988 and 1990, by six points and 19 points respectively. He spent more than $12 thousand from his 1990 campaign on personal expenses, including golf, car payments, and his mortgage.
This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
