WASHINGTON - Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., has so far missed every roll call vote of the post-election congressional session.

The absences were due to the flu and back troubles, her office said.

She was at her Washington home contending with back pain but hoped to return to the House floor this week, her spokeswoman said Thursday.

"She is here in D.C., laid up with a recurring back problem," Alison McGuire said. "She is improving, and we are hoping to get her here for some of the bigger votes."

Cubin also missed all seven roll call votes taken the week after the election. She was in Washington then too but resting because she had the flu, her office said.

Congress recessed during the intervening two weeks for Thanksgiving.

Just two other lawmakers have missed every roll call in the lame-duck session, according to The Hill newspaper. They include retiring Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., who has Parkinson's disease and cast his last vote in February, and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who won his race for governor.

Cubin missed two votes Tuesday, two on Wednesday and at least one Thursday. The House postponed a vote late Thursday and was expected to hold votes today.

On Wednesday the House voted 250-162 on a measure that would have required abortion providers to tell women at least 20 weeks pregnant that an abortion would cause pain to the fetus. Under a procedure to limit debate, it needed a two-thirds vote to pass, and so was defeated.

Cubin and 19 other lawmakers missed that vote.

On Tuesday the House voted 219-187 on a measure to protected nonprofit sports groups from lawsuits based on their athletic rules of play. It also needed a two-thirds vote to pass and was defeated, with 19 others not voting.

Cubin has missed 109 votes, or 9.1 percent of the roll call votes taken during the 2005-06 congressional session, according to a Washington Post database. That ranks her 29th among the 435 House members for missed votes.

She came under criticism for missing votes in 2001 and 2002. But her husband was very ill at the time, and Cubin strongly defended her need to stay by his side.