WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine took a place in the Senate record books Thursday as she cast her 6,000th consecutive roll call vote. The milestone drew praise from both sides of the aisle.
On any given day during the session, The U.S. Senate chamber is almost always empty, except for a few senators present for a particular debate. But today it was nearly full, as colleagues rose to congratulate Collins for casting her 6,000th consecutive roll call vote.
"One time she twisted her ankle as she tore down a corridor, sprinting back to the Capitol from a ready-to-depart plane," says U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican floor leader. "And just ask her to plan the logistics of planning a wedding and honeymoon around the recess calendar. … Our colleague is willing to do just about anything to ensure that she is here in this chamber representing the people of Maine."
Collins was also lauded by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada for following in the independent tradition of former Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith. Collins holds the seat once occupied by Smith and has often cited her as a personal hero.
"For her, it is not about aisles, it's about building bridges," says Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the longest-serving woman in the Senate. "I believe that if Margaret Chase Smith were alive today, she would come over and give Senator Collins a great big hug and say, 'Keep at it, keep at it.'"
U.S. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, delights in calling Collins the senior senator from Maine, even though she is younger in age than King. He gave her a red rose, the iconic symbol of Smith, and recounted a conversation he recently had with Collins about voting records.
"I leaned over to her and said, 'Look, I have a 98.6 percent voting record in the Senate,' and she said, 'You'll never catch me.'"
Collins has a ways to go to break the all-time roll call leader: former U.S. Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin, who racked up 10,252 consecutive roll call votes over his nearly three decades in the Senate. She has a better shot at catching U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who holds 2nd place in the roll call derby, with 7,440 votes and counting.
