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Sen. John Barrasso

Senate Republican Conference Chair and Senator for Wyoming

pronounced jon // buh-RA-soh

Barrasso is the senior senator from Wyoming and is a Republican. He has served since Jun 25, 2007. Barrasso is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 71 years old.

He is also Senate Republican Conference Chair, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.

Photo of Sen. John Barrasso [R-WY]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Barrasso.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Barrasso is shown as a purple triangle in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Barrasso has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 23, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

John Barrasso sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Barrasso was the primary sponsor of 19 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 19 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Barrasso sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Energy (27%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (19%) Health (18%) International Affairs (10%) Environmental Protection (9%) Taxation (7%) Water Resources Development (5%) Transportation and Public Works (5%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Barrasso recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As Senate Republican Conference Chair, Barrasso may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Barrasso voted Nay

Conference Report Agreed to 87/13 on Dec 11, 2018.

See the Congressional Research Service's 122-page summary of the bill. * * * H.R. 2 amends and extends major programs for income support, food and …

Barrasso voted Yea

Bill Passed 72/26 on Sep 28, 2016.

The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations …

Barrasso voted Yea

Barrasso voted Nay

Joint Resolution Passed 78/22 on Sep 18, 2014.

Barrasso voted Nay

Barrasso voted Nay

Conference Report Agreed to 81/14 on Dec 21, 2012.

Barrasso voted Yea

Motion Agreed to 81/19 on Dec 15, 2010.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known …

Barrasso voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 79/16 on Jun 25, 2008.

Missed Votes

From Jun 2007 to Mar 2024, Barrasso missed 222 of 5,494 roll call votes, which is 4.0%. This is worse than the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: