{"id":224253,"date":"2026-09-15T06:56:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/mitch-mcconnell-returns-to-the-senate-after-three-month-absence-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T06:56:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:56:37","slug":"mitch-mcconnell-returns-to-the-senate-after-three-month-absence-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/mitch-mcconnell-returns-to-the-senate-after-three-month-absence-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate after three-month absence – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned to the Senate on Monday and cast his vote after a more than three-month absence.
\u201cToday, I\u2019ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I\u2019m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues,\u201d McConnell wrote in a statement Monday.
He later voted to advance the nomination of Matthew Byrne to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.
McConnell said his recovery had been \u201ca long and frustrating process,\u201d adding that it had been complicated by \u201clingering effects of childhood polio.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m still not quite back to 100%, but I\u2019ve assured Leader Thune 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,\u201d McConnell said in his statement.
McConnell has been missing from the Senate<\/a> since mid-June, when he fell at home and was \u201cbriefly unconscious,\u201d according to a statement in July.
\u201cI must admit, after two years, two decades after dodging your questions, I wasn\u2019t sure how many of you would be here today,\u201d McConnell joked to reporters as he sat in a wheelchair Monday. \u201cSo I\u2019m glad to see you. Time to get back to work to finish the job for this Congress. I\u2019m here to work on the farm bill.\u201d
McConnell, who appeared frail but jovial, did not take questions from reporters.
McConnell was hospitalized after his fall and later released to rehabilitation care.
At the time, his office released a photo of him in a hospital chair alongside his wife, Elaine Chao. His absence, along with a lack of interview appearances in the media, led to rampant speculation and calls from members of the public and Kentucky\u2019s Democratic governor to release proof that he was fit to serve in Congress or otherwise resign<\/a>.
McConnell, 84, addressed why it took him so long to disclose the reason for his absence in July, saying he couldn\u2019t help but hesitate \u201cto share the vulnerability that comes with getting older.\u201d
A farm bill is set for a markup Wednesday in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Republicans hold a slim 12-11 majority in the committee, meaning McConnell\u2019s presence is needed to send bills to the full Senate floor on party-line votes.
McConnell, who is retiring at the end of the year, has faced several health issues in the past few years. He took a fall<\/a> at a Senate Leadership Fund dinner in 2023, leading to a hospitalization and a diagnosis of a concussion and a rib fracture. Later that year, McConnell froze midsentence<\/a> while he was addressing reporters on the Hill on more than one occasion.
McConnell was elected to the Senate in 1984. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., is the Republican nominee for his seat in the ruby-red state.
Raquel Coronell Uribe is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Frank Thorp V is a coordinating producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeSen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned to the Senate on Monday and cast his vote after a more than three-month absence.\u201cToday, I\u2019ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I\u2019m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":224254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}