Lugar casts final vote, helps avoid 'fiscal cliff' - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Indiana's departing U.S. Sen. Richard is leaving the Senate with one last act of compromise in support of Congress' "fiscal cliff" deal.

The Republican will leave the Senate on Thursday after having cast 13,067 votes over nearly four decades in Washington. U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly is being sworn in as Indiana's newest senator after defeating state Treasurer Richard Mourdock in November's election.

Lugar's final vote caps decades of work across party lines. That compromise helped lead to his ouster in last year's Republican primary by Mourdock.

Lugar's service places him 10th on the list of total votes cast in a Senate career. West Virginia's late Sen. Robert Byrd tops that list with 18,689 votes cast over 50 years in the chamber.

Top ten list:

Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) 1959-2010            18,689
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) 1955-2002          16,348
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) 1963-2012            16,300
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 1963-2009     15,236
Ted Stevens (R-AK) 1969-2008                15,033
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) 1967-2004             14,194
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) 1975-present        14,066
Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) 1973-2008         13,666
Claiborne Pell (D-RI) 1961-1996                13,214
Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) 1977-present        13,067

See a list of all senators who have cast over 10,000 votes.

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