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Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley

Senator for Iowa

pronounced CHAW-rulz // GRASS-lee

Grassley is the senior senator from Iowa and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 5, 1981. Grassley is next up for reelection in 2028 and serves until Jan 3, 2029. He is 91 years old.

He was previously the representative for Iowa’s 3rd congressional district as a Republican from 1975 to 1980.

Photo of Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley [R-IA]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Grassley is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate 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 legislators have sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Nov 21, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Charles “Chuck” Grassley sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Grassley was the primary sponsor of 104 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 104 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

Grassley sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Crime and Law Enforcement (37%) Government Operations and Politics (14%) Health (12%) Education (11%) Immigration (8%) International Affairs (7%) Agriculture and Food (6%) Finance and Financial Sector (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Grassley recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Grassley voted Nay

Conference Report Agreed to 87/13 on Dec 11, 2018.
See the Congressional Research Service's 122-page summary of the bill. * * * H.R. 2 amends and extends major programs for income support, food and …

Grassley voted Yea

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 …

Grassley voted Yea

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

Grassley voted Nay

Conference Report Agreed to 81/14 on Dec 21, 2012.

Grassley voted Yea

Motion Agreed to 81/19 on Dec 15, 2010.
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known …

Grassley voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 72/13 on Jul 26, 2008.

Missed Votes

From Jan 1981 to Nov 2024, Grassley missed 51 of 15,144 roll call votes, which is 0.3%. This is better than the median of 3.0% 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, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: