Former member of Congress · last served 104th Congress
William S. Cohen
William Cohen was a Republican U.S. senator from Maine, first elected to Congress in 1973, who sponsored 5 bills that became law (100th–104th Congress).
How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.
Recent votes
No recorded roll-call votes in PORKER’s records. Roll-call records start in 2011.
5 most recent bills
- S. 2153 A bill to designate the United States Post Office building located in Brewer, Maine, as the "Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Post Office Building", and for other…Oct 9, 1996 · Became Public Law No: 104-281.
- S. 699 Office of Government Ethics Authorization Act of 1996Mar 27, 1996 · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 349.
- S. 1586 A bill for the relief of Nancy B. Wilson.Mar 5, 1996 · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- S. 1525 Economic Espionage and Protection of Proprietary Economic Information Act of 1995Jan 25, 1996 · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
- S. 1501 Protecting Class Action Plaintiffs Act of 1995Dec 22, 1995 · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
Top bills sponsored
- S. 374 (102nd) Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement ActBecame law
- S. 496 (100th) Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988Became law
- S. 2248 (100th) A bill to designate the United States Courthouse located at 156 Federal Street in Portland, maine, as the "Edward Thaxter Gignoux United States Courthouse.Became law
- S. 1311 (103rd) A bill for the relief of Olga D. Zhondetskaya.Became law
- S. 1721 (100th) Intelligence Oversight Act of 1988Passed a chamber
- S. 1413 (101st) Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement ActPassed a chamber
- S. 345 (100th) Contract Disputes Act Amendments of 1987Passed a chamber
- S. 1174 (103rd) A bill for the relief of Olga D. Zhondetskaya.Passed a chamber
Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.
Elections Sen. Cohen has won
Sen. Cohen has won 1 U.S. House election (1976–1976) and 3 U.S. Senate elections (1978, 1984, 1990). Of the contested races, margins ran from 22.7 to 57.5 points.
Full election history for this seat →
Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.
Official records on bills this member sponsored
104th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 19 bills sponsored.
| Record | Bills | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bills sponsored | 19 | Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them → |
| With a CBO cost estimate listed | 0 | None listed |
| With a committee report listed | 1 | See the 1 → |
Evidence
- How counted
- Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 104th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
- Fields
- cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
- PORKER copy refreshed
- October 26, 2026 (nightly)
Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.
Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.