He was reelected in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008. Cochran served as Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. He also authored the Mississippi Wilderness Act. He currently serves on the Appropriations Committee, the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, the Committee on Rules and Administration, and the Joint Committee on the Library.