WASHINGTON — The longest consecutive voting streak in Senate history has come to an end.
Senate President Pro Tempore Charles E. Grassley said in a statement Tuesday morning that he was in self-quarantine after exposure to COVID-19. His vote streak ends at 8,927 consecutive votes, according to his office.
"I learned today that I've been exposed to the coronavirus. I will follow my doctors' orders and immediately quarantine as I await my test results," the Iowa Republican said. "I'm feeling well and not currently experiencing any symptoms, but it's important we all follow public health guidelines to keep each other healthy."
The 87-year-old Grassley was on Capitol Hill Monday evening for the Senate's first vote of the week to limit debate on the latest of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees to reach the Senate floor.
Until Tuesday, Grassley last missed roll call votes on July 14, 1993, when the senator was traveling with then-President Bill Clinton to tour flooding damage in Iowa during what the National Weather Service described as the Great Flood of 1993, which devastated Iowa and other states across the Great Plains.
Grassley set the record, in terms of time since a missed vote, back in January 2016. The late Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., was the previous record-holder at 22 years, five months and 28 days.
The record-setting Grassley streak ends 27 years, four months and three days after it began.
While senators are missing votes following COVID-19 exposure or diagnosis, there remains no widespread Senate testing program. The Office of the Attending Physician has capacity to conduct some coronavirus testing, and the House has begun to make testing more available for lawmakers.
However, senators continue to come and go from the nation's capital, without routine testing that is being required by an order from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for many overnight visitors to the District from the many states where there are 10 or more cases of coronavirus for each 100,000 people in the population.
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