Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suffered a concussion after a fall Wednesday evening and is being treated at a Washington-area hospital, his office said Thursday.
(Bloomberg) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suffered a concussion after a fall Wednesday evening and is being treated at a Washington-area hospital, his office said Thursday.
McConnell, who turned 81 last month, would remain in the hospital for “a few days of observation and treatment” after tripping at a dinner, according to his communications director, David Popp. Popp didn’t name the hospital.
“The leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes,” he said.
Several GOP senators who were briefed by McConnell’s staff about his condition at a weekly closed-door Republican luncheon said they were informed that the Kentucky senator will return to the chamber next week. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said they were told that he is conscious and he joked that he would miss attending the meeting because Senator Lisa Murkowski planned to serve the group halibut from her home state of Alaska.
“The report I heard was very encouraging,” said Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican.
The fall happened at an event for the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee run by McConnell’s allies, said John Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, and GOP Senator John Cornyn of Texas.
Neither were present when McConnell fell, but said they were there when McConnell spoke to attendees at a reception earlier in the evening and that he was in good spirits at the time.
The Republican caucus and the Senate won’t be greatly affected if McConnell is absent for a week or two, Senator Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said.
“It’s not like we’re breaking a sweat around here on the floor,” he said of the Senate’s lackluster agenda so far this year.
He added that Democrats are also forced to hold controversial confirmations and legislation anyway because they lack enough votes due to the health-related absences of Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
When asked Thursday if he spoke to McConnell, President Joe Biden told reporters that “I’ve spoken with the family,” and that he thinks McConnell will be all right.
Still, symptoms of concussions can last for days, weeks or longer, according to the Mayo Clinic. The traumatic brain injury can result in headaches and problems with balance, concentration and memory that are usually temporary.
In 2019, McConnell tripped at home and suffered a fractured shoulder at his Kentucky home shortly after senators left town for an August recess and was forced to work from there for several weeks after surgery.
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984. He is the longest serving party leader in Senate history. Before his political career, he worked on Capitol Hill and was an assistant attorney general in the Ford administration.
In a Senate career extending more than three decades, McConnell rose to become a senior appropriator, chair of Senate Republicans’ campaign committee and, eventually, Republican leader, beginning in 2007. He was majority leader from 2015 until 2021.
–With assistance from Steven T. Dennis and Justin Sink.
(Adds Biden comment in 11th paragraph)
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