skip to main content

 
Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley

Senator for Iowa

pronounced CHAW-rulz // GRASS-lee

(About Ads | Hide These Ads)

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 2028 and serves until Jan 3, 2029. He is 89 years old.

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]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 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, 2019 to Mar 28, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Charles “Chuck” Grassley sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Grassley was the primary sponsor of 103 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

Does 103 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 (38%) Government Operations and Politics (12%) Education (12%) Health (10%) Finance and Financial Sector (7%) Commerce (7%) Immigration (7%) Taxation (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Grassley recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Grassley 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 …

Grassley 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 …

Grassley voted Yea

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

Grassley voted Nay

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

Grassley 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 …

Grassley voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 72/13 on Jul 26, 2008.

Missed Votes

From Jan 1981 to Mar 2023, Grassley missed 46 of 14,571 roll call votes, which is 0.3%. This is better than the median of 2.3% 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: