Sen. John Cornyn

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Cornyn.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Cornyn 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 Cornyn has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 29, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

John Cornyn sits on the following committees:

• Senate Committee on Finance
  • International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness subcommittee Ranking Member

  Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure, Taxation and IRS Oversight subcommittees
• Senate Committee on the Judiciary
  • Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety subcommittee Ranking Member

  the Constitution, Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism, Intellectual Property, Privacy, Technology, and the Law subcommittees
• Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
• United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control

Enacted Legislation

Cornyn was the primary sponsor of 89 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• S. 3946 (117th): Abolish Trafficking Reauthorization Act of 2022
• S. 4926 (117th): Respect for Child Survivors Act
• S. 3846 (117th): Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Reauthorization Act of 2022
• S. 4003 (117th): Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022
• S. 4834 (117th): PROTECT Our Children Act of 2022
• S. 3825 (117th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3903 Melear Drive in Arlington, Texas, as the “Ron Wright Post Office Building”.
• S. 5323 (117th): A bill amend title VI of the Social Security Act to allow States and local governments to use coronavirus relief funds provided under the American Rescue Plan …

View All »

Does 89 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Cornyn sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Crime and Law Enforcement (22%) Armed Forces and National Security (19%) International Affairs (13%) Government Operations and Politics (13%) Health (11%) Families (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%) Transportation and Public Works (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Cornyn recently introduced the following legislation:

• S.Res. 383: A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Red Ribbon Week during the …
• S. 2828: Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act
• S. 2825: Dustoff Crews of the Vietnam War Congressional Gold Medal Act
• S. 2809: HEAL Act of 2023
• S. 2763: A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located …
• S.Res. 330: A resolution expressing support for the goals and ideals of National Child Abuse …
• S.J.Res. 41: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, …

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 2003 to Sep 2023, Cornyn missed 161 of 6,827 roll call votes, which is 2.4%. This is on par with the median of 2.4% 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:

• 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