Mitch McConnell news deepened after he stayed out of public view nearly a month following his June 14 hospital admission in the Washington area. His office said he is continuing to improve and remains engaged with Senate business, but it has not said what illness sent him to hospital or why he is still being treated.
The Senate returns Monday for a four-week legislative session focused on defence spending, national security and government funding bills. McConnell chairs the Senate rules committee and a defence appropriations panel, and Republicans hold only a 53-47 majority and a one-seat advantage on the defence appropriations panel.
Andy Beshear letter to McConnell
Kentucky's Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, published an open letter urging McConnell to reassure his constituents. Beshear wrote that “Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and well-being, and ability to hold office,” a direct appeal that put his absence into public view beyond the Senate.
John Thune said he had spoken with McConnell this week and described him as “alert and engaged in discussions about current events.” John Barrasso used the same description after speaking with him this week. McConnell's office also said there had been an “outpouring of support.”
video and dispatch audio
The public uncertainty has been sharpened by details from the day of the admission. Emergency dispatch audio indicated that first responders were sent to McConnell's home after reports of an unconscious person and that CPR was under way, while released video on Friday showing a person on a stretcher being wheeled towards an ambulance. The person's face was not visible.
That gap between the office updates and the public record leaves his condition as the main open issue for colleagues returning to work on Monday. With the 1 October deadline for new federal spending approaching, any absence at the top of key committee work adds pressure to disputes over annual appropriations that already may require another temporary spending measure.
Senate funding deadline
McConnell's role matters most now because the coming session is built around bills that must move if the Senate is to avoid a funding lapse. Without him, Republicans have less room to settle disputes inside the Senate rules committee and on the defence panel, where his party's margin is only one seat. The unanswered question is simple: what illness led to his hospital admission and why does it still keep him out of sight.
