McConnell finishes treatment for fall, working from home

WASHINGTON – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was discharged from a rehabilitation center on Saturday after treatment for injuries suffered in a fall and said he’ll still work from home for “the next few days.”

“I look forward to returning in person to the Senate soon,” McConnell, who turned 81 last month, said in a statement from his office.

McConnell suffered a concussion and fractured rib when he fell at a March 8 fundraising event at Washington’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Senators had little contact with him until the past week, when members of his leadership team said they had spoken with him. They said he sounded well and was eager to return to the Senate.

The Kentucky Republican was initially taken to a Washington-area hospital to treat a concussion. Days later, it was announced he also had suffered a broken rib and was being transferred to a rehabilitation center for further care.

McConnell is one of three senators who have been away from the chamber in recent weeks for medical care. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, is in her home state recovering after a recent hospitalization for a shingles infection. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is receiving treatment for depression.

McConnell said he’s “in frequent touch” with colleagues and staff and would work from home for now on the advice of his physical therapists.

“I’m happy to say I finished inpatient physical therapy earlier today and I’m glad to be home,” he said.

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and is serving his seventh term. He’s the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

In a Senate career extending more than three decades, McConnell rose to become a leading appropriator, chair of Senate Republicans’ campaign committee and, eventually, Republican leader, beginning in 2007. He was majority leader from 2015 until 2021.