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Nation/World

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, third in line for the presidency, tests positive for COVID-19

By Colby Itkowitz, The Washington Post
Updated: November 18, 2020 Published: November 18, 2020

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 is quarantining after being exposed to the coronavirus. Grassley is 87. He did not say how he was exposed. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)

Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, the president pro tempore of the Senate, which makes him the third in line of succession to the presidency, revealed Tuesday that he has tested postive for the coronavirus.

“I’ve tested positive for coronavirus,” he tweeted. “I’ll b following my doctors' orders/CDC guidelines & continue to quarantine. 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, 87, announced earlier in the day that he’d be quarantining after finding out he’d been exposed to someone who tested positive for covid.

The senator was at the Capitol on Monday and spoke on the Senate floor, taking off his mask to do so.

Grassley’s illness follows news late last week that fellow octogenarian Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the dean of the House as the longest consecutive serving members, was diagnosed with coronavirus.

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