McConnell returns to Senate to cast first vote since June

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) returned to the Senate Monday evening to cast his first vote since June 11 after spending months away from the Capitol recuperating from a fall he suffered at home.

McConnell’s long absence and the trickle of information from his office about his condition fueled weeks of speculation about his health and whether he would return to the Senate before the end of his term in January.

“After two years, two decades, actually, of dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today. So I’m glad to see you. Time to get back to work, finish the job of this Congress,” McConnell told an assembled group of reporters outside the Senate chamber before casting a vote for Matthew Byrne, a nominee to serve as district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.

An aide pushed McConnell through the historic Ohio Clock Corridor in a wheelchair, where he appeared frail but in good spirits after three months away from his Senate colleagues.

“I’m here to work on the farm bill, it’s important to my state. And as I think you know I have an ongoing interest in NATO and backing up our good friends who are totally in a fight against the Russians,” he added, referring to Ukrainian forces who are grinding away at the front lines after more than four years of combat against invading Russian forces.

“Welcome back!” McConnell said to reporters, who returned to a busy schedule of votes after the five-week August recess.

McConnell was spotted earlier in the afternoon being wheeled out of his Capitol Hill townhouse by an aide and security detail while a crowd assembled on the sidewalk.

In a statement circulated by his office, McConnell said he was “really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues.”

“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier. I’m still not quite back to 100 percent but I’ve assured Leader Thuen 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,” he said.

McConnell return is a big relief to GOP senators as his presence will give them the votes they need to pass the farm bill out of the Agriculture Committee and to advance regular spending bills out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The farm bill stalled in the Agriculture Committee last month after Democrats voted along party lines against the legislation because of disagreements over cuts made to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by Republicans in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Republican leaders are reportedly aiming to try again to advance it this week.

McConnell, who is 84, was rushed to the hospital on June 14 after taking a fall at his Washington home.

His office announced he was discharged from the hospital in early August.