McCain’s New Title: Most Absent Senator In 110th Congress

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has risen to a new rank within the Senate: he has missed the most votes of any active Senator in the 110th Congress — second only to Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), who suffered a brain hemorrhage in December.

While other Presidential candidates have certainly missed votes while campaigning, none come close to McCain, who has not shown up to a single vote in the past two weeks, skipping 18 consecutive votes. He has now missed over 40 percent of roll-call votes since the 110th Congress began.

Repeatedly declaring the Iraq war as crucial to the success of his campaign, McCain has nevertheless “missed seven prominent votes on Iraq” and national security, including the Senate’s passage this week of funding for the troops in Iraq. Some of the key votes McCain has missed:

Conference Report: U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act [4/26/07]

Motion to Invoke Cloture on U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act [3/28/07]

Joint Resolution to revise U.S. policy on Iraq [3/15/07]

Resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that no action should be taken to undermine the safety of the Armed Forces of the United States or impact their ability to complete their assigned or future missions. [3/15/07]

Improving America’s Security Act of 2007 [3/13/07]

A bill to express the sense of Congress on Iraq [2/17/07]

McCain also skipped General David Petraeus’s briefing on Iraq to instead campaign in New Hampshire.

While McCain did not have time to vote against the withdrawal plan yesterday, he did find time to release a harsh statement attacking the Senators who did vote to begin redeployment. “We need to send a bill to the President that he can sign, and we need to do it as soon as possible,” he said. “Our troops in the field are waiting on our action.”