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McConnell, 84, was the longest serving Senate leader in history
before stepping aside from that role while finishing his final
term, which ends in January.
“Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He
is receiving excellent care," spokesperson David Popp said in a
statement without elaboration. It was not immediately clear
whether the Kentucky lawmaker was in Washington, his home state
or elsewhere.
McConnell's health has been a subject of scrutiny for years.
He fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP
luncheon in December 2024. He was hospitalized with a concussion
in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in
a Washington hotel. After he returned, he twice froze up during
news conferences that summer, staring vacantly ahead before
colleagues and staff came to his assistance.
McConnell had polio in his early childhood and he has long
acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing
stairs. In addition to his 2023 fall, he also tripped and fell
in 2019 at his home in Kentucky. He had surgery for a fractured
shoulder.
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the
Republican leader from 2007 until last year, serving as both
majority and minority leader during that period.
He remains active in the Senate, showing up for work when the
chamber is in session, and recent chairing public hearings and
grilling officials from his perch as the chairman for the Senate
Appropriations subcommittee on defense. He has intermittently
used a wheelchair to navigate the Capitol and routinely has his
security detail, as a former congressional leader, at his side.
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