McConnell Back at the Capitol Nearly Six Weeks After Fall and Concussion

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell returned to the U.S. Capitol on Monday, close to six weeks after a fall at a Washington-area hotel that led to a concussion and a prolonged period of treatment.

The 81-year-old Kentucky senator had been recovering at home since March 25, when he left a rehabilitation facility. He hurt his head and fractured a rib in the fall, which happened after he attended an event earlier that month. McConnell reached the Capitol early on Monday and is expected to keep a full schedule in the Senate this week.

Speaking briefly on the Senate floor as the chamber reconvened following a two-week recess, McConnell thanked colleagues for their well-wishes and faulted President Joe Biden for not doing enough to negotiate over the nation's debt ceiling. "I'm very happy to be back," he said, adding that "there's important business for Congress to tackle." He also joked that "this wasn't the first time that being hard-headed has served me very well."

His return comes before a demanding stretch for Congress, which must find a way to raise the debt ceiling and negotiate further aid related to the war in Ukraine, along with other policy matters. Several other senators have also been absent for medical reasons, which raises questions about what the Senate can accomplish with a 51-49 partisan split.

Those absences, including McConnell's and those of Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and John Fetterman, have already slowed the chamber in the early months of the year. Over the previous two years, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer advanced key parts of Biden's agenda with a Democratic-led House. With Republicans now controlling the House, the Senate's work has become significantly harder, and missing members have complicated even routine votes such as those on nominations.

One immediate question for McConnell is whether to help Democrats temporarily replace Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The California Democrat is recovering at home from shingles, and her absence of more than six weeks from the panel has stalled confirmation of some Biden nominees. Feinstein has asked for a short-term substitute, but the step would need 60 votes on the Senate floor, and therefore Republican support. GOP Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, both on the committee, have said Republicans should not help. Feinstein is 89, and her office has declined to say when she will return to Washington.

Fetterman also came back to the Senate on Monday. The 53-year-old Pennsylvania Democrat was hospitalized in February for clinical depression and spent six weeks at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. His doctors say the depression is now "in remission." He had a stroke last year and has struggled with auditory processing disorder, and he now uses devices that transcribe spoken words in real time during conversations, meetings and hearings. When he left Walter Reed late last month, he said the care "changed my life" and that he was excited to be "the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves."

McConnell stopped by his Capitol office on Friday ahead of his return. Video captured by NBC News showed him walking into the building without assistance, with aides close by.

It was the second major injury for McConnell in recent years. Four years ago, he fell at his Kentucky home and fractured a shoulder, which required surgery; he worked from home for several weeks after the Senate began a summer recess. McConnell had polio as a young child and has long acknowledged some difficulty climbing stairs as an adult.