Notable votes

Votes most Americans would recognize, run through the exact same math as every other vote on this site, with a reminder of what each one was and what followed. Every one was decided by a simple majority, and every one was won by a side that represented less than half of the country.

Won with less than half of the country.
H.R. 1Jul 3, 2025 · House and Senate
The 2025 tax-and-spending law, passed under budget reconciliation with the Vice President breaking a 50-50 Senate tie. It made the 2017 individual tax cuts permanent, added deductions for tips and overtime, tightened Medicaid and SNAP eligibility, and raised the debt limit. The Congressional Budget Office projected it would add more than three trillion dollars to deficits over ten years, which was the number most of the coverage turned on.
This act reduces taxes, reduces or increases spending for various federal programs, increases the statutory debt limit, and otherwise addresses agencies and programs throughout the federal government.
Jodey Arrington (R-TX)
47.2%won, against52.5%
Won with less than half of the country.
H.R. 4Jul 17, 2025 · House and Senate
Rescissions Act of 2025
The Rescissions Act of 2025 clawed back about nine billion dollars Congress had already appropriated: most of it foreign aid, including global health programs, and the entire federal contribution to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR stations. The first rescissions package to pass in decades. Public stations announced cuts and closures afterward, and the Corporation said it would wind down.
This act rescinds specified unobligated funds that were provided to the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), various independent and related agencies, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Steve Scalise (R-LA)
47.8%won, against50.7%
Won with less than half of the country.
H.R. 1Dec 20, 2017 · House and Senate
The 2017 tax overhaul: the corporate rate cut from 35% to 21%, the standard deduction roughly doubled, the state-and-local deduction capped at $10,000. Passed under budget reconciliation with no votes from the minority party, and written so its individual provisions expired after 2025, which set up the 2025 fight above.
(This measure has not been amended since the House agreed to the Senate amendment without amendment on December 20, 2017.
KEVIN BRADY (R-TX)
47.3%won, against51.0%
Won with less than half of the country.
H.R. 2454Jun 26, 2009 · House
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
The 2009 cap-and-trade bill: a national limit on greenhouse-gas emissions with tradeable permits, the closest Congress has come to a comprehensive climate law. Passed the House 219 to 212 after a marathon floor fight, was never brought to a vote in the Senate, and became a campaign issue in the 2010 midterms for members who had voted for it.
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 - Sets forth provisions concerning clean energy, energy efficiency, reducing global warming pollution, transitioning to a clean energy economy, and providing for agriculture and forestry related offsets.
HENRY WAXMAN (D-CA)
49.3%won, against49.8%
Won with less than half of the country.
NominationOct 6, 2018 · Senate
Confirmation Brett M. Kavanaugh, of Maryland, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court 50 to 48, after hearings dominated by Christine Blasey Ford's testimony that he had assaulted her in high school, which he denied, and a week-long supplemental FBI inquiry. The closest Supreme Court confirmation vote since 1881.
43.7%won, against56.0%
Won with less than half of the country.
NominationOct 26, 2020 · Senate
Confirmation: Amy Coney Barrett, of Indiana, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to the Supreme Court 52 to 48, eight days before the 2020 election, to the seat Ruth Bader Ginsburg had held. The first Supreme Court confirmation in modern times with no votes from the minority party. Her seat made the 6-to-3 majority that decided Dobbs two years later.
47.4%won, against52.6%
Won with less than half of the country.
NominationApr 7, 2017 · Senate
Confirmation Neil M. Gorsuch, of Colorado, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Neil Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court 54 to 45, filling the seat left open for nearly a year after Antonin Scalia died, when the Senate declined to hold hearings on Merrick Garland. The day before, the majority changed the Senate's rules to end filibusters of Supreme Court nominees, the rule every confirmation since has run under.
44.1%won, against54.3%
Won with less than half of the country.
NominationFeb 7, 2017 · Senate
Confirmation Elisabeth Prince DeVos, of Michigan, to be Secretary of Education
Betsy DeVos confirmed as Education Secretary on a 50-50 tie broken by Vice President Pence, the first tie-breaking vote on a cabinet nomination in the Senate's history, after two Republicans joined every Democrat in opposition. Her hearing exchange about grizzly bears and guns in schools was the clip that travelled.
43.9%won, against56.1%
Won with less than half of the country.
NominationJan 24, 2025 · Senate
Confirmation: Peter Hegseth, of Tennessee, to be Secretary of Defense
Pete Hegseth confirmed as Defense Secretary on a 50-50 tie broken by Vice President Vance, the second cabinet nomination ever decided that way, after a confirmation fight over allegations of sexual misconduct and drinking, which he denied, and over whether a television host was qualified to run the Pentagon.
45.1%won, against54.9%
Won with less than half of the country.
NominationFeb 13, 2025 · Senate
Confirmation: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., of California, to be Secretary of Health and Human Services
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary 52 to 48, after hearings that centred on his long record of questioning vaccine safety and on the votes of senators who are physicians. In office he dismissed the CDC's entire vaccine advisory committee and revised federal vaccine recommendations.
45.4%won, against54.6%