(WASHINGTON) — Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate on Monday for the first time since being hospitalized in June following a fall.
“Today, I’ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June,” McConnell said in a statement. “I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues.”
McConnell, who was in a wheelchair, briefly addressed journalists outside the Senate chamber this afternoon before heading to the floor to cast his first vote since June 11.
“After two years — two decades — of dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today,” McConnell joked at the outset. “So I am glad to see you. It is time to get back to work and finish the job for this Congress.”
McConnell said he would be focused on the farm bill — which previously failed to advance out of committee due to McConnell’s absence.
“As you know, I have an ongoing interest in NATO and backing up our good friends who are totally in the fight against the Russians,” he said.
McConnell said in his Monday statement that he was not yet fully recovered but that he would try to be present for critical votes.
“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier. I’m still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me,” McConnell said.
McConnell was hospitalized on June 14 for reasons that were initially undisclosed in statements from his office. Subsequent statements from the senator revealed that he had suffered a fall that left him hospitalized.
After weeks of inpatient rehabilitation treatment, McConnell announced in an Aug. 6 statement that he’d be continuing his recovery at home.
Before Monday, the senator had not been seen publicly since the June 14 fall. McConnell has missed six weeks of Senate business in Washington since his injury.
In statements issued during his recovery, the senator has said he’s keeping up with his work in the Senate.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” McConnell said in an Aug. 6 statement.
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