Rep. Vern Buchanan
Representative for Florida’s 16th District
pronounced vern // byoo-KAN-un
Buchanan is the representative for Florida’s 16th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Buchanan is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 72 years old.
He was previously the representative for Florida’s 13th congressional district as a Republican from 2007 to 2012.
Earmarks
Buchanan proposed $35 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $3.5 million to Manatee County for “51st Street West Expansion Project”
- $3.0 million to The University of South Florida for “USF Center for Entrepreneurship on Sarasota-Manatee Campus”
- $3.0 million to Hillsborough County, Florida for “Gibsonton Septic-to-Sewer Conversion Project”
View all requests and justifications on Buchanan’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Buchanan is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives 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 Buchanan has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 26, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Vern Buchanan sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Buchanan was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 6604 (117th): Veterans Eligible to Transfer School (VETS) Credit Act
- H.R. 97 (116th): Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act of 2019
- H.R. 2226 (116th): Fentanyl Sanctions Act
- H.R. 1907 (116th): Retirement Security for American Workers Act
- H.R. 6720 (115th): Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act of 2018
- H.R. 253 (115th): Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017
- H.R. 91 (114th): Veterans Identification Card Act 2015
Does 7 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
Buchanan sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (30%) Health (23%) Armed Forces and National Security (19%) Crime and Law Enforcement (12%) Environmental Protection (5%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Buchanan recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 7649: Protecting our Communities from Sexual Predators Act
- H.R. 7222: Lowering Costs for Caregivers Act of 2023
- H.R. 6693: Lung Cancer Screening and Prevention Act of 2023
- H.R. 5207: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to add a new medical …
- H.R. 5206: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make a portion of …
- H.R. 4850: To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a retroactive effective …
- H.R. 4399: DRIVE SAFE Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2007 to Mar 2024, Buchanan missed 434 of 11,656 roll call votes, which is 3.7%. This is worse than the median of 1.9% among the lifetime records of representatives 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.
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