What happened
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will not return to Washington before lawmakers break for an August recess, his office said in a statement Monday, six weeks after he was hospitalized following a fall at his home.
McConnell, 84, will also miss Saturday’s Fancy Farm political picnic — a “must for politicians in Kentucky” that he has attended each year “for more than four decades,” said The New York Times.
Who said what
McConnell is “not yet medically cleared” to leave the rehab facility where he is undergoing a “strenuous course” of treatment, the office of the attending physician of Congress said in an accompanying statement. McConnell has missed dozens of Senate votes since his June 14 hospitalization. All public communication with the senator has been “via email in written statements, sent by his team,” with “no traces of him on audio or video,” said WLKY. Monday’s statement from his office was accompanied by a photo of him “smiling broadly and seated in a chair propped up by a pillow,” said the Times.
What next?
McConnell, who has faced a “series of health challenges in recent years,” said Politico, is due to retire when his current term concludes in January.