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 2018 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 from Jan 6, 2015 to Jun 20, 2019. 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 Europe and Regional Security Cooperation
- Member, Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy
- Member, Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism
- 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 (25%) Crime and Law Enforcement (18%) Government Operations and Politics (13%) Economics and Public Finance (12%) Environmental Protection (10%) Immigration (8%) Armed Forces and National Security (8%) Taxation (7%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Paul voted Nay

S. 151: TRACED Act

Bill Passed 97/1 on May 23, 2019.

Paul voted Nay

H.J.Res. 31: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019

Conference Report Agreed to 83/16 on Feb 14, 2019.

This bill, in its final form, funded the parts of the federal government whose funding was to lapse on February 15, 2019. On December 22, ...

Paul voted Nay

H.R. 3364: Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act

Bill Passed 98/2 on Jul 27, 2017.

Paul voted Nay

S. 722: Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017

Bill Passed 98/2 on Jun 15, 2017.

Paul voted Nay

S.Con.Res. 3: A concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2017 and ...

Concurrent Resolution Agreed to 51/48 on Jan 12, 2017.

It’s no secret that the President and congressional Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Their main method of preparing ...

Paul voted Nay

H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017

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 ...

Paul voted Nay

H.R. 22: Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act

Conference Report Agreed to 83/16 on Dec 3, 2015.

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 ...

Paul voted Nay

H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015

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

Missed Votes

From Jan 2011 to Jun 2019, Paul missed 92 of 2,424 roll call votes, which is 3.8%. 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2011 Jan-Mar	46	4	8.7%	89^th
2011 Apr-Jun	58	1	1.7%	29^th
2011 Jul-Sep	49	5	10.2%	87^th
2011 Oct-Dec	82	7	8.5%	96^th
2012 Jan-Mar	63	1	1.6%	67^th
2012 Apr-Jun	109	1	0.9%	47^th
2012 Jul-Sep	28	1	3.6%	60^th
2012 Nov-Dec	50	1	2.0%	59^th
2013 Jan-Jan	1	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	92	2	2.2%	80^th
2013 Apr-Jun	76	3	3.9%	77^th
2013 Jul-Sep	43	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Oct-Dec	80	6	7.5%	90^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%	66^th
2014 Nov-Dec	96	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jan-Mar	135	2	1.5%	74^th
2015 Apr-Jun	85	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jul-Sep	52	4	7.7%	86^th
2015 Oct-Dec	67	14	20.9%	94^th
2016 Jan-Mar	38	3	7.9%	80^th
2016 Apr-Jun	79	1	1.3%	47^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%	97^th
2018 Jan-Mar	63	1	1.6%	62^nd
2018 Apr-Jun	80	1	1.2%	54^th
2018 Jul-Sep	75	5	6.7%	86^th
2018 Oct-Dec	56	1	1.8%	71^st
2019 Jan-Mar	54	7	13.0%	97^th
2019 Apr-Jun	126	1	0.8%	50^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
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Sen. Rand Paul

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Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Recent Bills

Voting Record

Key Votes

Paul voted Nay

Paul voted Nay

Paul voted Nay

Paul voted Nay

Paul voted Nay

Paul voted Nay

Paul voted Nay

Paul voted Nay

Missed Votes

Primary Sources