Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) prolonged absence from Washington, D.C., has Republicans concerned about legislation they’re struggling to push through Congress given the confines of their narrow majority.
The party holds only a 53-to-47 majority in the Senate, making every vote critical. McConnell’s absence, since a fall and subsequent hospitalization on June 14, has stalled high-stakes legislative packages, raising scrutiny from GOP colleagues worried about advancing bills before the deadline for the usual appropriations process on Oct. 1. If Congress does not pass the annual appropriations bill by Sept. 30, a partial government shutdown will ensue, a development made increasingly probable by McConnell’s absence, among other complicating factors.
“We’re at 52” Republican votes, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told NOTUS this week, versus the 53 seats the party holds in the Senate. “This is the reality.”
McConnell, 84, was the longest-serving Senate leader in history before stepping aside and allowing Thune to fill the top spot in January 2025.
The extended absence of McConnell as a senior lawmaker with deep institutional knowledge and longstanding ties to colleagues could complicate sensitive negotiations to bring back an expired provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA is known as a controversial measure that has split lawmakers across party lines over the balance between national security and civil liberties. President Donald Trump has further complicated the renewal of the key government spying program by insisting that Congress pair any extension with the SAVE America Act, his signature election integrity bill.
The Kentucky lawmaker’s absence from the upper chamber could derail final passage of the over $1 trillion defense spending package that the House recently approved. In addition, the Trump administration’s supplemental funding request for $87.6 billion for the war in Iran is at stake.
McConnell chairs the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, making his voice a critical one on the panel, which has fallen into partisan deadlock due to his absence. The Appropriations Committee is split 14-14 between Democrats and Republicans, making it essentially impossible to advance controversial legislation. Senate Democrats have made it a negotiating tactic to not support advancing appropriations bills unless increases for the military are paired with similar increases for domestic programs.
“It definitely has an impact on approps –– it’s probably the most deeply felt,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who serves on the Appropriations Committee, told the outlet, adding that losing McConnell’s vote in such partisan negotiations has made those conversations “impossible.”
Stephen Voss, a University of Kentucky political science professor, told the Lexington Herald Leader that “if McConnell’s absence is affecting the politics of an issue, it may affect it quietly.”
“It may convince the bill’s handlers to slip in something desired by a different Republican because they need to make up for McConnell’s vote not being available,” he said. “We won’t necessarily see the impact because it happens behind the scenes implicitly rather than an event you can mark down in the calendar.”
The Agriculture Committee’s work to advance the “farm bill,” an omnibus, multiyear law that governs an array of agricultural and food programs, has also stalled, as McConnell is the second-ranking Republican on the panel. Republicans don’t have enough votes without McConnell to advance it out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, since his absence leaves the panel at 11-11, allowing Democrats to thwart progress due to their belief that states must start sharing costs under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, leading Republicans such as Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) to express concern about the delays’ impact on West Virginian farmers.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) added that the issue extends outside the committee, pointing to Senate Republicans being able to only narrowly shoot down a resolution limiting the Trump administration’s war powers in Iran on Thursday.
“There’s only 53 votes,” Hawley said. “When you have multiple people gone at a time, it’s like, well, you can’t even control the floor. It’s got to be frustrating to be the leader.”
The Kentucky senator has been largely silent about his absence after he fell on June 14, sparking controversy and rumors about his health. His doctor released a statement earlier this month saying he had been hospitalized for four weeks for minor falls throughout the year and a slight case of pneumonia. McConnell did not break any bones when he fell and did not suffer a heart attack, a stroke, a hemorrhage, or a concussion, according to his team.
“Folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older,” the senator said in a July 12 statement that broke weeks of silence. “Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct — I can’t help it.”
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The lack of detail and updates from McConnell, along with his not being seen in public since June 14, has sparked criticism from some colleagues in Congress. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said this week that the senator should resign if he cannot be more transparent with constituents.
“We’re seeing increasingly these votes are being decided by a one- or two-vote margin, and if you’re not capable of — not only not capable of doing the job presently, but we need to know if you’re capable of doing the job for the foreseeable future, and that I think is tremendously important,” she said. “I don’t think any American has ever experienced the ability to just leave your job for over a month with no explanation to your employer, and we are accountable to the public.”