Congress is out of session until Monday, November 9 for the midterm campaign. No new roll-call votes until then; the last were the House on Sep 16 and the Senate on Sep 30.

Joni Ernst

U.S. Senator · Iowa · Republican · Chair, Small Business and Entrepreneurship

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From public records: votes from Voteview, bills from congress.gov, money from FEC filings · votes updated Nov 4, 2026 · How we measure

Effectiveness, 119th Congress so far

How it’s measured
2.50· expected 1.48

Above expectations

Rank 7 of 100 in the Senate · expected = average of 21 majority-party committee chairs

How far Ernst’s own bills got, weighted by substance. The average member scores 1.00.

  1. Introduced 87
  2. Action in committee 21
  3. Action beyond committee 12
  4. Passed chamber 6
  5. Became law 2

87 bills and joint resolutions sponsored: 1 significant (got a roll call vote), 85 substantive, 1 commemorative. Compare the Senate

Became law (2)

2 national policy

  • S. 766 Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act of 2025Unable to determine bill's effect without access to bill text or summary. AI-readBecame law Oct 7, 2026 · Government Operations and PoliticsNational policy
  • S. 3971 Small Business Innovation and Economic Security ActReauthorizes Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer programs through 2031 with expanded security and training requirements. AI-readBecame law Apr 13, 2026 · CommerceNational policy

Scope tags come from an AI reading of each bill where available, otherwise from its title and policy area. They don’t change the score. How scope is tagged

Became law inside another bill (1)

Ernst’s own bill stalled, but the Congressional Research Service lists an identical bill, or one with similar text, that became law. Shown for context; not counted in the score, which follows the Center for Effective Lawmaking. How this works

How Ernst’s ratings compare with every senator

Ratings, 119th Congress

Scores run 0–100 and always sit next to a median. Each tick is one senator; the ringed marker is Ernst.

Ernst in plain answers: party votes, bipartisanship, who votes alike

Attendance

How it’s measured
98/ 100

Chamber median 98 · 21 missed of 915

Voted on 894 of 915 roll calls; missed 21. Lower than 52% of senators.

85%100%

Party loyalty

How it’s measured
100/ 100

Senate R median 100 · Rank 22 of 53

Sided with the Republican majority on 822 votes that split the parties. Higher than 72% of senators.

75%100%

Bipartisan

How it’s measured
8/ 100

Chamber median 9 · −1

Average agreement with members of the other party on contested votes. Lower than 64% of senators.

0%30%

Position

How it’s measured
+0.54

Republican middle 80%: 0.38 to 0.78

Left–right position from roll-call similarity (DW-NOMINATE, Voteview), from −1 to +1. Members who vote alike sit near each other.

LiberalConservative

Bills, 119th Congress

Sponsored 100 (median 61) · cosponsored 208 (median 307.5), 106 as an original cosponsor (signed on the day the bill was introduced). Medians are for all voting members of the Senate. From congress.gov.

How we count words

Sponsored

Cosponsored