I think the PEOPLE of the USA should DEMAND 100% attendance and 100% VOTE of their pay is PRO-RATED! They miss 50% of the votes, they are CANNED and immediate elections are held in their home state. Their pay is withheld. Time to get tough on these lazy bastards. They are aggravating the Gunny!
This issue isn't up to the people. It's up to each House. No way will the Senate censure anyone for absence due to campaigning for another office. After all, every man Jack of them (and every woman Jill) thinks they could and should be President, Governor, or Supreme Court Justice.
I understand your aggravation, Gunny. Senators can be accused of a lot of things, but most of them do work pretty hard. This is not necessarily an advantage for the rest of us. Frankly, we'd be better off if more of them were slackers and not working overtime to figure out way to tax us, regulate us and generally makes things harder rather than easier.