Former member of Congress · last served 104th Congress
Claiborne Pell
Claiborne Pell was a Democratic U.S. senator from Rhode Island, first elected to Congress in 1961, who sponsored 23 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. 2169 Endangered Cultural Heritage Act of 1996Oct 1, 1996 · Referred to Subcommittee on Parks, Preservation and Recreation.
- S. 2147 Library of Congress Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act of 1996Sep 27, 1996 · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking.
- S. 2001 A bill to amend the Job Training Partnership Act to improve the definition relating to eligible dislocated workers, and for other purposes.Jul 30, 1996 · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources.
- S. 1631 A bill to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue a certificate of documentation with appropriate endorsement for employment in the coastwise trade…Jul 30, 1996 · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- S.J.Res. 55 A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to the commencement of the terms of Office of the President, Vice…May 15, 1996 · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
Top bills sponsored
- S.J.Res. 303 (102nd) A joint resolution to designate October 1992 as "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month".Became law
- S.J.Res. 146 (101st) A joint resolution designating the week of September 24, 1989, as "Religious Freedom Week".Became law
- S.J.Res. 301 (101st) A joint resolution designating October 1990 as "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month".Became law
- S.J.Res. 95 (103rd) A joint resolution to designate October 1993 as "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month".Became law
- S.J.Res. 185 (103rd) A joint resolution to designate October 1994 as "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month".Became law
- S.J.Res. 154 (100th) A joint resolution to designate the period commencing on November 15, 1987, and ending on November 22, 1987, as "National Arts Week".Became law
- S.J.Res. 126 (101st) A joint resolution commemorating the bicentennial of the United States Coast Guard.Became law
- S.J.Res. 331 (101st) A joint resolution to designate the week of September 23 through 29, 1990, as "Religious Freedom Week".Became law
Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.
Elections Sen. Pell has won
Sen. Pell has won 3 U.S. Senate elections (1978, 1984, 1990). Of the contested races, margins ran from 23.7 to 50.2 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 10 bills sponsored.
| Record | Bills | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bills sponsored | 10 | 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 | 0 | None listed |
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.