Rand Paul, Senator for Kentucky

Paul is the junior senator from Kentucky and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 5, 2011. Paul is next up for reelection in 2022.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2017 Report Card for Paul.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Paul 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 Paul has sponsored and cosponsored. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

FreedomWorks: 100% Americans for Prosperity: 90% The Club for Growth: 90% NumbersUSA: 83% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: B+ United States Chamber of Commerce: 64% American Civil Liberties Union: 23% NIAC Action: D Human Rights Campaign: 16% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 12% League of Conservation Voters: 9%

Committee Membership

Rand Paul sits on the following committees:

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Chair, Subcommittee on Children and Families
- Member, Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Chair, Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management
- Member, Subcommittee on Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
- Member, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy
- Member, Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation
- Member, Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development
Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Paul sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

International Affairs (19%) Crime and Law Enforcement (18%) Government Operations and Politics (16%) Economics and Public Finance (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%) Taxation (10%) Immigration (7%) Environmental Protection (7%)

Recent Bills

Some of Paul’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Paul’s Vote	Vote Description
Nay	H.R. 1892: Further Extension of Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018; Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2018, the SUSTAIN Care Act of 2018; Family First Prevention Services Act.; Honoring Hometown ... Feb 9, 2018. Motion Agreed to 71/28. This bill became the vehicle for passage of funding for the federal government through March 23, 2018, to avert a government shutdown that would have occurred on February 9, 2018 had this bill not been enacted. The bill was introduced as the Honoring Hometown Heroes ...
Not Voting	H.J.Res. 123: Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2018, and for other purposes. Dec 7, 2017. Joint Resolution Passed 81/14.
Nay	H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 Sep 28, 2016. Bill Passed 72/26.
Nay	H.R. 22: Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act Dec 3, 2015. Conference Report Agreed to 83/16. H.R 22, formerly the Hire More Heroes Act, has become the Senate’s vehicle for passage of the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act or DRIVE Act (S. 1647). The DRIVE Act is a major bipartisan transportation bill that would authorize funding ...
Nay	H.R. 22: Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act Jul 30, 2015. Bill Passed 65/34. This vote turned H.R 22, originally the Hire More Heroes Act, into the Senate’s vehicle for passage of the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act or DRIVE Act (S. 1647), a major bipartisan transportation bill, and the Export-Import Bank Reform and ...
Yea	H.R. 5771 (113th): Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 Dec 16, 2014. Bill Passed 76/16.
Nay	H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015 Sep 18, 2014. Joint Resolution Passed 78/22.
Nay	S. 1789 (112th): 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012 Apr 25, 2012. Bill Passed 62/37.
Nay	H.R. 1540 (112th): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 Dec 15, 2011. Conference Report Agreed to 86/13.
Nay	H.J.Res. 48 (112th): Additional Continuing Appropriations Amendments, 2011 Mar 17, 2011. Joint Resolution Passed 87/13.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2011 to Apr 2018, Paul missed 77 of 2,050 roll call votes, which is 3.8%. This is much worse than the median of 1.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2011 Jan-Mar	46	4	8.7%	87^th
2011 Apr-Jun	58	1	1.7%	30^th
2011 Jul-Sep	49	5	10.2%	88^th
2011 Oct-Dec	82	7	8.5%	95^th
2012 Jan-Mar	63	1	1.6%	63^rd
2012 Apr-Jun	109	1	0.9%	47^th
2012 Jul-Sep	28	1	3.6%	61^st
2012 Nov-Dec	50	1	2.0%	57^th
2013 Jan-Jan	1	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	92	2	2.2%	83^rd
2013 Apr-Jun	76	3	3.9%	73^rd
2013 Jul-Sep	43	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Oct-Dec	80	6	7.5%	89^th
2014 Jan-Mar	93	6	6.5%	93^rd
2014 Apr-Jun	123	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Jul-Sep	54	1	1.9%	61^st
2014 Nov-Dec	96	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jan-Mar	135	2	1.5%	72^nd
2015 Apr-Jun	85	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jul-Sep	52	4	7.7%	85^th
2015 Oct-Dec	67	14	20.9%	95^th
2016 Jan-Mar	38	3	7.9%	80^th
2016 Apr-Jun	79	1	1.3%	45^th
2016 Jul-Sep	34	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Nov-Dec	12	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	101	4	4.0%	93^rd
2017 Apr-Jun	54	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jul-Sep	53	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Oct-Dec	117	9	7.7%	93^rd
2018 Jan-Mar	63	1	1.6%	56^th
2018 Apr-Apr	17	0	0.0%	0^th

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
GPO.gov/FDSys, for sponsored bills

Rand Paul is pronounced:

rand // pawl

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In
A a	cat
AW aw	law
D d	day
L l	leg
N n	not
P p	pen
R r	rag

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Sen. Rand Paul

What you can do

Links

Follow GovTrack on social media for more updates:

On GovTrack Insider:

I have an opinion I want to share.

I need help, have a question, or want to schedule a tour.