William V Theobald

Reno Gazette-Journal

WASHINGTON — As he completes his third term in the House, Rep. Joe Heck has established a solid, if unspectacular, record as a relatively moderate Republican who has advanced in the GOP caucus while scoring some modest legislative successes.

That's the picture of the GOP Senate candidate that emerges in a review of his political views and legislative effectiveness.

National Journal ranked Heck the 207th most conservative member of the 435-member House in 2013. He was more conservative than 60 percent of his colleagues on economic issues, 54 percent on social issues, and 52 percent on foreign affairs.

While Heck may score in the middle of the pack politically, David Damore, political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and others point out the entire Republican caucus in Congress has shifted to the right in recent years.

In an interview, Heck, 54, rejected labels.

“I don’t go in and automatically think I’m going to vote a certain way because of some label or because this is the way the majority of my party or the other party is going to vote,” Heck said. “I critically analyze every bill; I read every bill before I vote on it.”

The best way to judge a member of Congress, Heck said, is by how well they deal with the people they represent.

“How responsive are they to their constituents — whether they write in, phone in, fax in or email, or if they come into the office with a problem,” he said.

For simple questions, Heck said his office responds to 90 percent of inquiries within three days. Case work, such as trying to pry loose benefits from a federal agency, can take longer, but Heck said his office touches base with the constituent at least once every 30 days during that process. He said his office has obtained $1.6 million in benefits for veterans in the past 12 months.

Heck takes the same constituent-centered approach to legislation, he said, with most of his proposals emerging from suggestions by people in his district.

For example, a member of his veterans' advisory group told him severely disabled vets were being hurt because additional benefits they received from the VA to hire in-home health care and other services were causing their housing benefit to be reduced. That prompted the Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act, which was signed into law this summer.

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Heck's legislative record

Heck serves on three committees — armed services, education and workforce, and intelligence. He is chairman of subcommittees on the armed services and intelligence committees. He has introduced a modest number of bills during his three terms – 19 in 2011-12; 15 in 2013-14; and 16 in 2015-16. Seven of those have become law, either as separate bills, or folded into broader legislation.

His legislation has a notable bipartisan flavor, with half his bills having at least one Democratic co-sponsor.

According to the Legislative Effective Project, an effort by professors from the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, Heck has been relatively effective during his time in Congress.

Basing effectiveness on 15 factors that look at how far a member’s legislation advances, Heck ranked 29th out of 245 Republicans in the House in his first term in 2011-12 and 33rd out of 240 House Republicans in his 2013-14 term, the most recent years available.

Some of his bills that became law, in addition to the veterans' housing measure, include legislation to:

Extend the federal government’s authority to make grants to nonprofit private agencies for the purpose of providing street-based services to runaway and homeless youth who have been subjected to, or are at risk of being subjected to, sexual abuse, prostitution or sexual exploitation.

Make it illegal to falsely claim to have received military decorations or medals.

Transfer 948 acres of federal land to a redevelopment agency for the city of Henderson, clearing the way for a major cleanup and redevelopment of the long-abandoned site.

Reauthorize Hoover Dam to continue distributing power through 2067.

7 key votes

​More than 1,200 roll call votes have been held in the House in 2015 and so far in 2016. Here is how Heck voted on some of the most crucial issues of the past two years:

On Jan. 6, 2015, the House elected Rep. John Boehner as speaker of the House, but not without controversy as 30 Republicans voted for other candidates or did not vote. Heck voted for Boehner.

Heck voted in favor of revising the Patriot Act, including ending bulk collection of phone data. The bill passed 338-88.

He voted against legislation allowing the Export-Import Bank to resume offering assistance to firms wanting to export U.S. goods. The bill passed 313-118.

Heck supported a bill to give the president fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements, prohibiting Congress from amending a deal. On the second vote, it passed 218-208.

Heck voted against a federal program providing assistance to workers displaced by foreign trade agreements. It passed on the second vote, 286-138.

He voted against a bill to increase military and domestic spending and suspend the debt ceiling until March 2017. It passed 266-167.

Heck voted 'no' on legislation that dealt with Puerto Rico’s debt crisis by establishing an oversight board, a process for restructuring debt and procedures for approving critical infrastructure projects. It passed 297-127.

​Ranking Heck by how he votes

Congressional Quarterly looks at how often a member of Congress votes with or against his own party (referred to as party unity) and how often he or she votes in support or opposition to the president’s position on an issue.

In 2014, Heck supported the Republican Party 88 percent of the time, and supported President Obama’s positions 14 percent of the time.

Opposing his own party on 12 percent of his votes actually placed Heck among House Republicans who most often bucked their own party.

Still, said Fred Lokken, political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Heck has been a mostly reliable Republican vote in the House. "He has clearly on his votes supported the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, which of course has been an incredibly broken Republican Party," Lokken said. He cited votes by Heck to repeal Obamacare as an example.

"While there's probably a moderate streak in him, he is choosing in this election to celebrate being a conservative," Lokken said.

One thing Heck has been able to avoid that has plagued some members of Congress seeking another office is missed votes. Heck registered his position in 98 percent of the 562 roll call votes in 2014, better than the average voting percentage of 95.6 percent, according to CQ.

Numerous special interest groups put out annual scorecards ranking members of Congress by how they vote. The higher the score, the more the member voted in support of that group’s positions on the issues.

A collection of scores for Heck shows him to be a solid conservative, but not at the extreme right of this party.

A sampling: