Grassley is the senior senator from Iowa and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 5, 1981. Grassley is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
He is also President Pro Tempore of the Senate, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.
He was previously the representative for Iowa’s 3rd congressional district as a Republican from 1975 to 1980.
![Photo of Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley [R-IA]](/static/legislator-photos/300048-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Grassley.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Grassley 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 Grassley has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jun 17, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Charles “Chuck” Grassley sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Grassley was the primary sponsor of 92 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 935: Rural Health Clinic Protection Act
- S. 2258 (116th): Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2019
- S. 3607 (116th): Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act of 2020
- S. 4091 (116th): Emergency Aid for Returning Americans Affected by Coronavirus Act
- S. 3052 (116th): United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act
- S. 2777 (116th): Family First Transition Act
- S. 744 (116th): Effective Prosecution of Possession of Biological Toxins and Agents Act of 2019
Does 92 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
Grassley sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (29%) Health (18%) Government Operations and Politics (12%) Education (12%) Immigration (8%) Commerce (7%) Families (7%) Law (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Grassley’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 2055: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify and ...
- S. 1806: Biodiesel Tax Credit Extension Act of 2021
- S. 1775: Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act of 2021
- S. 1724: Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act of 2021
- S. 1703: Improving Access to Retirement Savings Act
- S.Res. 218: A resolution recognizing National Foster Care Month as an opportunity to raise awareness ...
- S.Res. 215: A resolution designating the week of May 9 through May 15, 2021, as ...
View All » | View Cosponsors »
As President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Grassley 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
Missed Votes
From Jan 1981 to Jun 2021, Grassley missed 46 of 13,793 roll call votes, which is 0.3%. This is better than the median of 1.6% 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 and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
