Buck is the representative for Colorado’s 4th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 6, 2015. Buck is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Ken Buck [R-CO4]](/static/legislator-photos/412619-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Buck.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Buck is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives 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 Buck has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Nov 26, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Ken Buck sits on the following committees:
-
House Committee on the Judiciary
- Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law subcommittee Ranking Member
Immigration and Citizenship subcommittees -
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation subcommittees
Enacted Legislation
Buck was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 1330 (116th): Amache Study Act
- H.R. 6779 (115th): Using Data to Prevent Opioid Diversion Act of 2018
- H.R. 5844 (115th): Amache Study Act
Does 3 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
Buck sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (24%) Taxation (15%) Crime and Law Enforcement (15%) International Affairs (12%) Law (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (9%) Immigration (9%) Education (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Buck’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 5921: Filter Bubble Transparency Act
- H.R. 5859: FARM Act of 2021
- H.R. 5725: Threatened Species Protection Improvement Act of 2021
- H.R. 4553: Water and Agriculture Tax Reform Act of 2021
- H.R. 3810: Saving American History Act of 2021
- H.R. 3478: Castle Pines Community Act
- H.R. 3460: State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act of 2021
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to Dec 2021, Buck missed 230 of 3,890 roll call votes, which is 5.9%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives 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
