Mcconnell Announces Return To Senate Five Weeks After Concussion

Five weeks after being taken off of work due to a concussion sustained in a fall, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated on Thursday that he will return to the Capitol on Monday.

“I am looking forward to returning to the Senate on Monday. We’ve got important business to tackle and big fights to win for Kentuckians and the American people,” McConnell (R-Ky.) tweeted on Thursday. 

McConnell, 81, tripped and fell during a private dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, DC, on March 8. He was taken to the hospital and was later diagnosed with a concussion and a small rib fracture. 

After being discharged from the hospital on March 13, the Kentucky Republican continued his medical care at an inpatient rehabilitation center, where he remained until March 25.

After a two-week hiatus for Easter, the Senate will reconvene on Monday at 3 p.m. to vote on Radha Iyengar Plumb’s nomination to be the deputy undersecretary of defense.

McConnell, who was originally elected to his position in 1984, had polio as a youngster and has previously admitted he sometimes has trouble mounting stairs as an adult.

Since Democrats asserted a tiny advantage in 2021, he has served as the minority leader in the Senate. At the beginning of this year, he surpassed the previous mark for the Senate’s longest-serving leader.

His absence coincided with that of two other senators who were dealing with recent health issues. 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was treated for depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for about six weeks before being discharged late last month.

Fetterman, 53, is anticipated to return to Capitol Hill on Monday, just like McConnell.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) promised to come back to the Senate “as soon as possible” on Wednesday after two House Democrats demanded that she quit immediately because she “can no longer fulfill her duties.”