US Senator Mitch McConnell has returned to Congress for the first time since he was admitted to hospital after a fall three months ago.
“I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues,” said the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican, before casting a vote on a judicial nomination.
McConnell’s long absence provoked rampant speculation about his health, and demands from Democrats for transparency.
The longest serving party leader in Senate history, he has been in the Senate for 41 years.
“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” McConnell said on Monday.
“I’m still not quite back to 100%,” he continued, adding that “I will do my best to be present for tough votes”.
“I’m glad to get back to more of business as usual on their [fellow Kentuckians’] behalf this month,” his statement concluded.
Video of the senator leaving his home in the US capital showed him being taken in a wheelchair into a vehicle.
He appeared a short time later on the Senate floor, where he was greeted by several senators.
McConnell last voted on 11 June. As questions mounted over his whereabouts, his office said a month later that he had fallen at home on 14 June and was treated in hospital for mild pneumonia.
Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwvgy1mj4yqmo.
