Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate after three-month absence

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned to the Senate on Monday after a more than three-month absence. “Today, I’ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues,” McConnell wrote in a statement Monday. The senator added that his recovery had been “a long and frustrating process,” saying it had been complicated by “lingering effects of childhood polio.”

“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 added. The senator has been missing from the Senate since mid-June, when he suffered a fall at home and was “briefly unconscious,” according to a July statement. “I must admit, after two years, two decades after dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today,” McConnell joked to reporters while sitting in a wheelchair on Monday.

“So I’m glad to see you. Time to get back to work to finish the job for this Congress. I’m here to work on the farm bill.” McConnell was subsequently hospitalized and later released to rehabilitation care. McConnell at the time released a photo in a hospital chair alongside his wife, Elaine Chao. His absence, along with a lack of interview appearances in the media, led to rampant speculation and calls from members of the public and Kentucky’s Democratic governor to release proof that he was fit to serve in Congress or otherwise resign.

McConnell’s return comes as a farm bill is set for a markup Wednesday in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Republicans hold a slim 12-11 majority in the committee, meaning McConnell’s presence is needed to send bills to the full Senate floor on party-line votes.