Monday Scaries on the Hill: A Lot of Lawmakers Are Skipping Votes

Congress isn’t a workplace with a typical 40-hour workweek. But increasingly lawmakers’ inability to make it to Washington on time can be a factor in how the Capitol functions, or doesn’t. The Hill schedule is usually an abbreviated four-day week, and members rush to the airports on Thursdays. But the ones who skip so-called “fly-in” votes early in the week can cause headaches for their leaders.

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has missed more than a dozen of the first votes of the week this term.

“Overall, I made 94% of my votes, and I’ve always made every important — or ones that aren’t throwaway, bed-check vote type things on Monday,” he told NOTUS. “With three young kids, I try to spend time and make a balance.”

Fetterman is not alone. Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate are regularly missing fly-in votes, which are typically scheduled Monday evening but sporadically fall later in the week. They are often, but not always, on uncontroversial or procedural matters.

There is logic behind leadership not scheduling controversial business on Mondays; building in a buffer is probably wise when lawmakers cannot control weather delays around the country. But lawmakers’ blasé attitudes toward getting back to Washington on time demonstrate the challenges that certain leadership teams are facing as some lawmakers willingly cede their votes — especially given that chambers of Congress schedule about a week per month, and often all of August, for “district work periods” that can be used at a lawmaker’s discretion.

Across first-of-the-week votes this Congress, on average more than 28 House members’ votes weren’t recorded, while the Senate saw an average of six missing senators. Forty lawmakers missed the first vote in the House this week, on Tuesday.

Several lawmakers told NOTUS they don’t prioritize getting back to Washington because they don’t consider the votes consequential or have better things to do with their time.

Rep. Grace Meng of New York has missed over 10 such votes this Congress.

“We try to check what types of votes there are, how significant they are,” Meng told NOTUS. “And I balance that with, if my child has something that he needs me to be at.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders has missed seven fly-in votes. He told NOTUS that the absences “had to do with running around the country, taking on Trump, fighting oligarchy and doing other public meetings.”

But he assured NOTUS that he had not missed anything of consequence.

“I don’t miss important votes,” Sanders said.

Early-week vote absences are one piece of a broader absences challenge on Capitol Hill. In the House, where Republicans hold a paper-thin majority, passing even procedural measures is often a matter of turnout — particularly after Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s sudden death and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s retirement. Last week, six Republicans joined Democrats to block a labor bill, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to yank two other bills from the floor.

In the Senate, Republican leaders have not had to pull votes due to attendance. Democrats, however, have had the opportunity to defeat or delay GOP measures if more senators made it to Capitol Hill on time. For example, a June, largely party-line, fly-in vote to advance the confirmation of an assistant health and human services secretary passed 44-33 with 23 absences, 12 of which were Democrats.

Lawmakers presented NOTUS with a range of explanations for their truancy this term.

Many related to changing family circumstances or illnesses. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Rep. Greg Casar, for example, have been on parental leave. Several, like Rep. María Elvira Salazar and Sen. Patty Murray, cited regular weather delays from their home states of Florida and Washington.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has missed more fly-in votes than any Senate Republican, told NOTUS that she deals with an arduous travel schedule to the Hill from her home state of Alaska.

“I’m old enough that I should not be doing red eyes,” Murkowski said. “And even young people should not try to do more than one red eye, like, a month.”

Rep. Donald Norcross, like a handful of his colleagues, experienced an extended hospitalization.

“I was close to death for almost five weeks,” Norcross told NOTUS of his gallbladder infection. “But other than that, I’m very reliable.”

But some just admitted to NOTUS that getting to Capitol Hill for Monday votes isn’t their priority right now.

“Well, I’m not running again,” Rep. Michael McCaul told NOTUS when asked about his more than 10 fly-in vote absences. “But if they need my vote, I’m gonna be there.”

A lot of repeat offenders are spending time on the campaign trail instead of at the Capitol, like former Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who missed more than 20 fly-in votes when she was running for New Jersey governor. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who campaigned against her in the state’s Democratic primary, missed more than a dozen.

Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt has missed more than 20 early-week votes — and plenty more on other days of the week, while campaigning to be Texas’ next senator — something his opponent, Sen. John Cornyn, has criticized him for. (Rep. Chip Roy, another Republican from Texas, is also running for statewide office but missed just eight vote series total in that time frame.)

GOP Rep. John James has missed 13 fly-in votes as he runs for governor of Michigan. Yet, he told NOTUS that he believes it’s important to make it back to Washington to vote.

“We expect our constituents to do multiple things at one time, and I believe they deserve leaders who are doing that,” James said. “Making sure that we’re doing our job here in Congress is extremely important, and I intend to continue to prioritize that.”

It’s that ethos that has inspired some lawmakers to seek out a perfect attendance record this term — and have little patience for their colleagues who are content to skip votes.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican from Tennessee, has earned one of the best attendance records over his 15 years in Congress. In 2024, he did not miss a single vote. He walked NOTUS through the trials he has faced to get to Washington on time on Mondays, particularly because his local airport in Chattanooga offers one daily direct flight to Washington, so he often defaults to connecting through Atlanta.

“I just make it a priority to be here, whether I’m healthy or not,” Fleischmann said. “I just feel that my 800,000 constituents, I owe that to them to vote.”

“But,” he added, “sometimes it’s very difficult.”