Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday that he will return to Capitol Hill on Monday, five weeks after being forced off his job with a concussion during a fall.
“I look forward to returning to the Senate on Monday. We have big issues to face and big fights to win for Kentuckians and the American people,” McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote in a tweet Thursday.
McConnell, 81, was hospitalized on March 8 and diagnosed with a concussion and a minor rib fracture after he tripped and fell during a private dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Washington, DC.
The Republican from Kentucky was released from the hospital on March 13 and then continued treatment at an inpatient rehabilitation center, where he remained until March 25.
The Senate will meet at 3 pm on Monday, following a two-week recess over Easter and a vote on the appointment of Radha Iyengar Plumb to serve as deputy assistant secretary of defense, according to Hill. McConnell, first elected to his seat in 1984, suffered from polio as a child and had previously acknowledged he had some difficulty climbing stairs as an adult.
He has been the Senate minority leader since 2021 when the Democrats claimed a slight lead. He broke the record for the longest-serving leader in the Senate earlier this year.
His absence overlapped with that of two other senators who have been dealing with recent health issues. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center late last month after an approximately six-week stay for treatment for depression. Like McConnell, Fetterman, 53, is also expected to return to Capitol Hill on Monday.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) vowed Wednesday to return to the Senate “as soon as possible” after two House Democrats called for her immediate resignation, saying she “can no longer perform her duties.”
Feinstein, 89, has been out for more than a month as she recovers from a shingles infection that led to her being hospitalized on March 2. She is currently recovering at her home in California and says her medical team has not yet cleared her for travel.
The California Democrat said Wednesday that he has asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to nominate another Democratic senator to temporarily serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee until he can resume serving on the committee.
