Senate Minority Leader vows Health queries, determines to complete Senate Term

September 8, 2023: On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader vows Health queries, determines to complete Senate Term.

The leader stated that he had no announcements about retiring from the Senate. His current terms end in January 2027.

On two separate occasions this summer, McConnell briefly froze up and lost the ability to speak during press events. In the second instance on Aug. 30, McConnell was virtually unresponsive for about 30 seconds.

After evaluating McConnell, the attending physician for the U.S. Congress said that the senator could perform his duties and that there was no evidence he suffered a stroke.

McConnell was hospitalized in early March after suffering a concussion from a fall at a hotel during a private dinner in Washington, D.C.

After reportedly considering forcing a closed-door meeting to discuss McConnell’s health, some Republican colleagues have expressed their concerns more openly.

“The last freeze-up, it puts a question in everybody’s mind whether he can do it or not,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

“We need a good quarterback,” added the former football coach turned senator.

Sen. Rand Paul, McConnell’s Kentucky colleague who was a practicing ophthalmologist, told reporters Tuesday that he doesn’t think the Capitol physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, gave “a valid medical diagnosis.”

“Everybody has seen the clips,” he said.

But other GOP senators are defending McConnell.

“The reality is that we may expect that Mitch McConnell will check out for 20 seconds a day, but the other 86,380 seconds in the day, he does a pretty darn good job,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told NBC News on Tuesday.