US Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is receiving concussion treatment after collapsing two days ago, but a former assistant claims that he is eager to leave the hospital.
At the age of 81, McConnell is one of the most important figures in Washington. On Wednesday night, he stumbled and collapsed. He was expected to be in the hospital for a few days.
Some of McConnell’s Republican Senate colleagues informed reporters on Thursday that he would probably be admitted to the hospital over the weekend. Yet, they asserted that they had faith in his ability to return to work when the Senate met again the next week.
His absence comes amid a continuing deadlock over the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling between President Joe Biden and Republicans, who control the House of Representatives. The lack of development in the negotiations has sparked worries about a potential default during the summer.
Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have gotten more attention than McConnell, the Senate minority leader, on the debt ceiling problem. Independent analysts, though, think that the Kentucky Republican is a good negotiator who might mediate a settlement in a crisis.
READ ALSO: Michelle Obama Reflects on Family’s Final Days at White House, Trump’s Inauguration
Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Health
At the age of 81, McConnell is one of the most important figures in Washington.
Two senators who attended a luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington for the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC allied with McConnell and GOP leadership, claimed that McConnell lost the election.
An adult male was taken from the Waldorf Astoria around 9:17 pm on Wednesday, according to Vito Maggiolo, a spokesperson for the Washington Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. The call was placed in response to a complaint of a fall at the hotel, he added.
The person was sent to a nearby hospital, and the doctor claimed that the patient’s condition was not indicated by the records.
He claimed that due to privacy concerns raised by a federal regulation that limits the publication of medical information, he was unable to say if the patient was McConnell or which hospital he was transferred to.
Majority Leader Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said he contacted McConnell and spoke with his staff during remarks on the Senate floor on Thursday morning. On Thursday, a number of senators said that they had not yet spoken to McConnell and were unaware of his health.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, expressed his optimism that McConnell’s absence won’t have a significant influence. Another Republican senator mentioned his attempts to learn more about McConnell from Senate leadership but received no responses.
At his Kentucky home, McConnell stumbled and fell in 2019, breaking his shoulder. He underwent an operation. A politics news website called Punchbowl News was the first to report on the incident on Wednesday evening.
In 2020, McConnell won re-election to a seventh term in the Senate after being originally chosen in 1984. From 2015 until the beginning of 2021, when Democrats became the majority party following the 2020 elections, he served as the Senate’s majority leader.
READ ALSO: Democrats Vote Against DC Criminal Code; Residents Express Disappointment
