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Sen. James “Jim” Inhofe

Former Senator for Oklahoma

pronounced jaymz // in-HOF

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Inhofe was a senator from Oklahoma and was a Republican. He served from 1994 to 2022.

He was previously the representative for Oklahoma’s 1st congressional district as a Republican from 1987 to 1994.

Photo of Sen. James “Jim” Inhofe [R-OK, 1994-2022]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Inhofe.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Inhofe is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2022 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 Inhofe sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Dec 22, 2022. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Inhofe was the primary sponsor of 31 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 31 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

Inhofe sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Transportation and Public Works (31%) Armed Forces and National Security (16%) Immigration (15%) International Affairs (10%) Taxation (8%) Health (8%) Government Operations and Politics (7%) Crime and Law Enforcement (5%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Inhofe recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Inhofe voted Nay

Conference Report Agreed to 83/16 on Feb 14, 2019.
This bill, in its final form, funded the parts of the federal government whose funding was to lapse on February 15, 2019. On December 22, …

Inhofe voted Nay

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 …

Inhofe voted Yea

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

Inhofe voted Nay

Inhofe 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 …

Missed Votes

From Dec 1994 to Dec 2022, Inhofe missed 446 of 9,423 roll call votes, which is 4.7%. This is worse than the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2022. 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.

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Primary Sources

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