Reed is the senior senator from Rhode Island and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 7, 1997. Reed is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027.
He was previously the representative for Rhode Island’s 2nd congressional district as a Democrat from 1991 to 1996.
![Photo of Sen. John “Jack” Reed [D-RI]](/static/legislator-photos/300081-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Reed 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 Reed has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 6, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Reed was the primary sponsor of 25 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3496: Preventing Layoffs During a Public Health Emergency Act of 2020
- S. 2997 (116th): Title VII Health Care Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2019
- S. 1272: A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 575 Dexter Street in Central Falls, Rhode Island, as the “Elizabeth Buffum Chace Post ...
- S. 45: Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Wild and Scenic River Act
- S. 3530 (115th): Museum and Library Services Act of 2018
- S. 3414 (115th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 20 Ferry Road in Saunderstown, Rhode Island, as the “Captain Matthew J. August ...
- S. 292 (115th): Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act of 2018
Does 25 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
Reed sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Finance and Financial Sector (28%) Education (18%) Health (14%) Labor and Employment (11%) Government Operations and Politics (9%) Housing and Community Development (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Reed’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 5071 (116th): Build America’s Libraries Act
- S. 5072 (116th): Vet Center Improvement Act of 2020
- S. 4960 (116th): A bill to extend of period for adjustment of status for certain ...
- S. 4825: Ensuring Access to COVID–19 Vaccines for Seniors Act
- S. 4804: Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act of 2020
- S. 4672: TRANSPLANT Act of 2020
- S. 4361: Worker Relief and Security Act of 2020
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1997 to Jan 2021, Reed missed 38 of 7,555 roll call votes, which is 0.5%. 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
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
