Barrasso is the junior 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 unless re-elected.
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]](/static/legislator-photos/412251-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 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 liberal–conservative 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 6, 2015 to Aug 11, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
John Barrasso sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Barrasso was the primary sponsor of 12 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 990: Platte River Recovery Implementation Program Extension Act
- S. 1061: John F. Kennedy Center Reauthorization Act of 2019
- S. 268: Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver Act
- S. 512 (115th): Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act
- S. 40: Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act
- S. 199: A bill to authorize the use of the active capacity of the Fontenelle Reservoir.
- S. 2717 (114th): DRIFT Act of 2016
Does 12 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:
Native Americans (17%) Environmental Protection (15%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (14%) Health (14%) Energy (14%) Water Resources Development (12%) Animals (8%) Transportation and Public Works (8%)
Recent Bills
Some of Barrasso’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 3971: Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fee Reauthorization Act of 2020
- S. 3591: America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020
- S. 3590: Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020
- S. 3390: Physician Shortage GME Cap Flex Act of 2020
- S. 3047: Creating Opportunities And Leveraging Technologies for Coal Carbon Act of 2019
- S. 3051: America’s Conservation Enhancement Act
- S. 2917: Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019
View All » | View Cosponsors »
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
Missed Votes
From Jun 2007 to Aug 2020, Barrasso missed 18 of 3,956 roll call votes, which is 0.5%. This is better than the median of 1.7% 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
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
