Rubio is the senior senator from Florida and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 5, 2011. Rubio is next up for reelection in 2022.
![Photo of Sen. Marco Rubio [R-FL]](/static/legislator-photos/412491-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Rubio.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Rubio 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 Rubio has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Oct 17, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Marco Rubio sits on the following committees:
- Chair, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
-
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
- Chair, Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues
- Member, Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy
- Member, Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development
- Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
-
Senate Committee on Appropriations
- Member, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
- Member, Subcommittee on Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
- Member, Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies
- Member, Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
- Member, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
- Senate Special Committee on Aging
Enacted Legislation
Rubio was the primary sponsor of 20 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 811: Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Border Security and Disaster Relief, 2019
- S. 1580 (115th): Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act
- S. 11: Strengthening the National Disaster Medical System Act of 2019
- S. 1595: Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018
- S. 1995: Spurring Business in Communities Act of 2018
- S. 1118: North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2017
- S. 1094: Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017
Does 20 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
Rubio sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (39%) Health (12%) Crime and Law Enforcement (10%) Commerce (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Taxation (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%) Education (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Rubio’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 2621: A bill to provide for the restoration of legal rights for claimants under ...
- S. 2617: A bill to allow the procurement of supplies and services for commercial activities ...
- S. 2575: Disaster Assistance Simplification Act
- S. 2539: Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2019
- S.Res. 329: A resolution designating September 2019 as “National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month”.
- S. 2503: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2019
- S. 2507: Canadian Snowbirds Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2011 to Oct 2019, Rubio missed 286 of 2,570 roll call votes, which is 11.1%. This is much worse than the median of 1.5% 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
