Rep. Joaquin Castro
Representative for Texas’s 20th District
pronounced wah-KEEN // KAST-roh
![Photo of Rep. Joaquin Castro [D-TX20]](/static/legislator-photos/412576-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Castro proposed $62 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $19 million to City of San Antonio for “San Antonio International Airport – Remain Overnight Aircraft Parking”
- $16 million to Port Authority of San Antonio for “Port San Antonio Complete Streets Conversion”
- $10 million to Texas Division of Emergency Management for “Concepcion Creek – Phase 1”
View all requests and justifications on Castro’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
Castro 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 Castro has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Apr 20, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Joaquin Castro sits on the following committees:
-
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Western Hemisphere subcommittee Ranking Member
Indo-Pacific subcommittees -
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Cyber subcommittees
Enacted Legislation
Castro was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 6799: Intelligence Community Joint Duty Improvements Act
- H.R. 6329: Open Source Intelligence Availability Act
- H.R. 6182: Southeast Asia Partnership Expansion Act
- H.R. 9465 (117th): Civil Service Federal Employee Serving Overseas Pay Equity Act
- H.R. 4864 (116th): Global Child Thrive Act of 2020
- H.R. 6315 (116th): COVID–19 National Service Response Act
Does 6 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
Castro sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (45%) Immigration (20%) Education (17%) Labor and Employment (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Castro recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 7943: Enhancing Development Finance Corporation Oversight Act of 2024
- H.R. 7942: Open Translation Center Act of 2024
- H.R. 6799: Intelligence Community Joint Duty Improvements Act
- H.R. 6798: Internet at Hardship Posts Act
- H.R. 6797: Restoring U.S. Leadership in International Organizations Act of 2023
- H.R. 6796: Intelligence Community Families Act
- H.R. 6618: ARMAS Act of 2023
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Apr 2024, Castro missed 265 of 6,567 roll call votes, which is 4.0%. This is much worse than the median of 2.0% 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
