Iowa Sen. Grassley, 87, tests positive for COVID-19

Associated Press
In this Oct. 12, 2020 file photo, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, listens during a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator, says he tested positive for the coronavirus. Grassley is 87. He did not say how he was exposed.[Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP]

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator, says he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Grassley, 87, did not say how he was exposed. He’d said earlier in the day that he would follow doctor’s orders and “immediately quarantine” and work virtually as he awaited his test results.

"I’m feeling good + will keep up on my work for the ppl of Iowa from home. I appreciate everyone’s well wishes + prayers &look fwd to resuming my normal schedule soon," Grassley said in a tweet.

The Iowa Republican is the president pro tempore of the Senate, meaning he presides over the Senate in the absence of Vice President Mike Pence and is third in the line of presidential succession, behind Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The president pro tempore is the senator in the majority party who has served the longest.

By missing votes this week, Grassley will break a 27-year streak of not missing a single Senate vote. According to his office, the last time he missed a vote was in 1993, when he was in Iowa assisting with relief efforts after severe flooding.

Grassley was first elected to the U.S. House in 1974 and then to the Senate in 1980. He is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and is expected to become the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee when a new Senate session begins in January.