Tom Cotton

Overview

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has cast 694 recorded votes in the U.S. Senate, building a record that spans national defense, healthcare, immigration, energy policy, and government spending. His voting pattern reflects a consistently conservative approach, with particularly strong alignment on foreign policy, immigration, and budget matters. Cotton's record is most distinctive in foreign policy and defense, where he has supported nearly every measure that came to a vote (98.1% in foreign policy) and has opposed efforts to limit military engagement abroad. He voted against resolutions that would have directed the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities involving Iran, reflecting his support for maintaining a strong military posture. On immigration, he has voted in favor of the majority of measures brought before the Senate (85.2%), consistent with his public advocacy for stricter immigration enforcement. In areas like healthcare and defense authorization, his voting is more mixed — supporting roughly 57–58% of measures. This reflects the complexity of these policy areas, where votes often involve competing priorities such as government spending levels, regulatory approaches, and executive branch nominations. His trade record stands out as an area where he has voted against more proposals than he has supported, with only 33.3% yea votes on trade-related measures. On fiscal matters, Cotton has supported the majority of budget proposals (81.3%) and taxation measures (76.0%) that have come to a vote, consistent with his party's general positions on government spending and tax policy.

Key Positions

• •Strongly supports an active U.S. military presence abroad — he voted against multiple resolutions that would have directed the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities involving Iran.
• •Near-unanimous support on foreign policy matters, voting yea on 98.1% of foreign policy votes, including confirmations of national security and diplomatic officials.
• •Consistently supports immigration enforcement measures, voting in favor of 85.2% of immigration-related proposals brought to the Senate floor.
• •Shows skepticism toward certain trade agreements, voting yea on only 33.3% of trade-related measures — his lowest support rate across all policy categories.
• •Supports energy-related measures at a 75.3% rate, and voted to maintain provisions imposing duties on countries purchasing Russian-origin crude oil or natural gas.
• •Backed the majority of budget proposals (81.3% yea) and taxation measures (76.0% yea), generally aligning with Republican fiscal positions.
• •Voted to confirm the CDC Director and supported the annual defense authorization bill, but voted against measures related to insurance company prior authorization practices in healthcare.