“I must admit. After two years of – decades, actually – dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today. But I’m glad to see you. Time to get back to work, finish the job for this Congress,” the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican told reporters from a wheelchair outside the Senate chamber.
Looking frail and speaking in a voice that sometimes faltered, McConnell said he was determined to work to pass new farm legislation, aid US relations with Nato and counter Russian aggression in Ukraine.
He ignored a reporter who asked if he intended to serve out the remainder of his Senate term, which ends in January. He then entered the chamber to vote for a Republican judicial nominee.
A longtime Republican Party leader who in 2025 announced his plan to retire from the Senate after the 2026 midterms, McConnell had been out of public view since mid-June, when he was taken from his home to a hospital in the Washington area for reasons that went undisclosed for weeks.
McConnell later said he suffered a fall that left him briefly unconscious. While hospitalised, he developed pneumonia and was treated with antibiotics, according to a separate statement that McConnell’s office attributed to the attending physician. He was released from a rehabilitation centre in early August.
The episode marked the latest in a series of health problems that have raised concerns about McConnell’s capacity to serve in the Senate.
The median age is just under 65 for the current Senate and just under 58 for the House of Representatives, according to Pew Research Center.
Earlier on Monday, McConnell issued a statement acknowledging that he was “not quite back to 100 percent” but adding that he had assured Senate Majority Leader John Thune that he would “do my best to be present for tough votes.” (Reuters)
