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Sen. John F. “Jack” Reed

Senator for Rhode Island

pronounced jon // reed

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 is 73 years old.

He was previously the representative for Rhode Island’s 2nd congressional district as a Democrat from 1991 to 1996.

Photo of Sen. John F. “Jack” Reed [D-RI]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Reed.

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, 2019 to Sep 29, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

John F. “Jack” Reed sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Reed was the primary sponsor of 36 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 36 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 (27%) Education (21%) Health (13%) Labor and Employment (10%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Government Operations and Politics (7%) Housing and Community Development (6%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Reed recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Reed 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 …

Reed voted Yea

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

Reed voted Nay

Reed 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 …

Reed voted Nay

Veto Overridden 80/14 on Jun 18, 2008.

Reed voted Nay

Bill Passed 79/14 on Dec 14, 2007.
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub.L. 110–234, H.R. 2419, 122 Stat. 923, enacted May 22, 2008, also known as the 2008 U.S. …

Missed Votes

From Jan 1997 to Sep 2023, Reed missed 41 of 8,742 roll call votes, which is 0.5%. This is better than 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.

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Primary Sources

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