James E. Risch

18 years in the U.S. Congress · since 2009

• Senator ID 2009–present

• background Born May 3, 1943; lawyer
• background University of Idaho graduate (forestry B.S. 1965, J.D. 1968)
• role Ada County prosecuting attorney (elected 1970)
• role Idaho Senate (1974–1988, 1995–2002)
• role Lieutenant governor of Idaho (2007–2009); briefly governor (2006)
• role U.S. senator from Idaho since 2009; reelected 2014, 2020

Assembled from Congress.gov · FEC · official disclosures — each fact links its own source

These are verifiable facts from the public record, assembled in one place and presented without judgment. They are not a score, a grade, or a ranking. Context matters: a missed vote may be excused, on leadership or committee duty, or paired; a party-unity rate reflects agenda alignment, not virtue or independence; a disclosed trade or a documented relationship is a required public filing, not evidence of wrongdoing. Each fact links to its full source below.

• 100.0%
  Roll-call participation →

  voted in 30 recorded roll calls · chamber median 100.0%

  Missing a vote is not inherently negative — an absence can be excused, reflect leadership or committee duty, or a recorded pairing.

• 59
  Bills sponsored →

  plus 320 cosponsored

  A count of bills introduced as the primary sponsor; most legislation never advances, regardless of who sponsors it.

• 0
  Sponsored bills enacted →

  of 59 bills sponsored

  Whether a bill becomes law depends on the whole Congress, not the sponsor alone; substantive provisions often pass folded into other vehicles.

• 100%
  Party-unity voting →

  votes with the party majority · median 100% · on 11 party-line votes

  Party-unity is how often a member votes with their own party's majority on party-line votes — it reflects agenda alignment, not loyalty, independence, or virtue.

• 0%
  Cross-party voting →

  votes with the other party's majority on those same votes

  The share of the same party-line votes cast with the OTHER party's majority — a descriptive rate, not a measure of principle.

• 0
  Documented positions →

  no positions documented yet

  Documented, sourced positions we have on record — the absence of a documented position is not the absence of a view.

• 16
  Committee assignments →

  committees and subcommittees

  Committee seats are assignments made by party leadership — a measure of role and jurisdiction, not an achievement or a conflict in itself.

Assembled from CivicGate's ingested public records for James E. Risch. A fact shown as “—” means we don't yet hold that data — not that the value is zero.

Data from senate.gov roll-call records

Data from Congress.gov committee memberships

• Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
• Energy and Natural Resources Committee · oversees Energy
• Energy Subcommittee · oversees Energy
• Ethics (Select) Committee
• Intelligence (Select) Committee
• Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy Subcommittee Ex Officio · oversees Energy
• Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee
• Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee
• United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control
• Water and Power Subcommittee
• Africa and Global Health Policy Subcommittee Ex Officio · oversees Health
• East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy Subcommittee Ex Officio
• Europe and Regional Security Cooperation Subcommittee Ex Officio
• Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism Subcommittee Ex Officio
• State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development Subcommittee Ex Officio
• Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues Subcommittee Ex Officio

Data from FEC, itemized campaign receipts

Documented + CivicGate vote-derived — stated positions link their source; derived positions come from votes on direction-tagged bills

• DefenseFull support from votes
• Economy & TaxesFull support from votes
• Foreign PolicyFull support from votes

Data from Stock Watcher / official disclosures

Data from Congress.gov

The members Risch most often co-sponsors bills with — their legislative coalition.

Data from Congress.gov · FEC

How Risch connects to other members, committees, and PACs — drawn only from ingested records.

Data from Congress.gov