Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) cast his first Senate vote since a June fall, releasing a Monday evening statement promising to “do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me.”
His return to the Senate follows immense speculation, and conspiracy theories, about his health. Little was disclosed about his condition after an ambulance was called to his home in June. Later, his office disclosed that he had fallen and subsequently contracted pneumonia in the hospital. He spent the August recess recovering in Kentucky, but has faced growing pressure to return to Washington to serve out the final weeks of his term. McConnell is retiring at the end of the current Congress.
“Today, I’ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June,” McConnell said in a statement released by his office. “I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues.”
McConnell, 84, called his recovery a “long and often frustrating process,” one made more difficult by the “lingering effects” of childhood polio. The senator, who served for almost two decades as Senate GOP leader, has suffered repeated falls due to the condition and drew even more scrutiny over his health after freezing in front of the cameras multiple times in the last Congress.
In the statement, McConnell said he was still not “quite back to 100%.” He subsequently addressed reporters upon arriving via wheelchair at the Senate.
“After two years, two decades, actually, of dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today,” McConnell said, according to The Hill. “So I’m glad to see you. Time to get back to work, finish the job of this Congress.”