Robert “Rob” Portman, Senator for Ohio

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

He was previously the representative for Ohio’s 2^nd congressional district as a Republican from 1993 to 2005.

Photo of Sen. Robert “Rob” Portman [R-OH]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2017 Report Card for Portman.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

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

Committee Membership

Robert “Rob” Portman sits on the following committees:

Senate Committee on Finance
- Chair, Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
- Member, Subcommittee on Health Care
- Member, Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Chair, Subcommittee on Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
- Member, Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management
Joint Economic Committee
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Member, Subcommittee on Energy
- Member, Subcommittee on National Parks
- Member, Subcommittee on Water and Power
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

Enacted Legislation

Portman was the primary sponsor of 27 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Portman sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (20%) Health (19%) Taxation (14%) Crime and Law Enforcement (13%) Energy (10%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) International Affairs (8%) Economics and Public Finance (8%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Portman’s Vote	Vote Description
Nay	On the Nomination PN1642: Mark Jeremy Bennett, of Hawaii, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit Jul 10, 2018. Nomination Confirmed 72/27.
Nay	H.J.Res. 57: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to accountability and ... Mar 9, 2017. Joint Resolution Passed 50/49. H.J.Res. 57 would disapprove and nullify the rule issued by the Department of Education on November 28, 2016, to implement the accountability, data reporting, and state plan provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The bill's sponsors feel that while the Department had authority ...
Yea	H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 Sep 28, 2016. Bill Passed 72/26.
Yea	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. 5771 (113th): Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 Dec 16, 2014. Bill Passed 76/16.
Yea	H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015 Sep 18, 2014. Joint Resolution Passed 78/22.
Yea	H.J.Res. 59 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 Dec 18, 2013. Motion Agreed to 64/36. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (H.J.Res. 59; Pub.L. 113–67) is a federal statute concerning spending and the budget in the United States, that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 26, 2013. On December 10, 2013, pursuant to the provisions of ...
Yea	On the Nomination PN266: Mark Gaston Pearce, of New York, to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board for the term of five years expiring August ... Jul 30, 2013. Nomination Confirmed 59/38.
Yea	H.R. 1540 (112th): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 Dec 15, 2011. Conference Report Agreed to 86/13.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2011 to Sep 2018, Portman missed 31 of 2,182 roll call votes, which is 1.4%. This is on par with 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	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Apr-Jun	58	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Jul-Sep	49	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Oct-Dec	82	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Jan-Mar	63	1	1.6%	63^rd
2012 Apr-Jun	109	1	0.9%	46^th
2012 Jul-Sep	28	1	3.6%	62^nd
2012 Nov-Dec	50	2	4.0%	73^rd
2013 Jan-Jan	1	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	92	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Apr-Jun	76	1	1.3%	36^th
2013 Jul-Sep	43	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Oct-Dec	80	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Jan-Mar	93	1	1.1%	49^th
2014 Apr-Jun	123	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Jul-Sep	54	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Nov-Dec	96	13	13.5%	92^nd
2015 Jan-Mar	135	1	0.7%	52^nd
2015 Apr-Jun	85	2	2.4%	69^th
2015 Jul-Sep	52	2	3.8%	74^th
2015 Oct-Dec	67	1	1.5%	47^th
2016 Jan-Mar	38	1	2.6%	45^th
2016 Apr-Jun	79	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Jul-Sep	34	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Nov-Dec	12	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	101	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Apr-Jun	54	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jul-Sep	53	2	3.8%	77^th
2017 Oct-Dec	117	1	0.9%	52^nd
2018 Jan-Mar	63	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Apr-Jun	80	1	1.2%	52^nd
2018 Jul-Sep	69	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
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Robert “Rob” Portman is pronounced:

RO-bert // PORT-min

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In
B b	bat
ER er	her
I i	pin
M m	man
N n	not
O o	top
OR or	corn
P p	pen
R r	rag
T t	top

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Sen. Robert “Rob” Portman

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