By Makini Brice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has been medically cleared to continue with his schedule, the attending physician to Congress said on Thursday, one day after the 81-year-old froze up at an event in his home state of Kentucky.
The incident had raised fresh questions about the health of the Senate’s top Republican, who had similarly frozen up a month earlier during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol.
McConnell had also been sidelined from Congress earlier this year, after he tripped in March and was hospitalized for a concussion and a minor rib fracture. He returned to the Senate in April.
Lawmakers are due to return to Washington from summer recess next week and will have urgent work ahead — the federal government will begin a partial shutdown on Oct. 1 if Congress doesn’t authorize additional spending by then.
The physician said in a statement that he had consulted with McConnell and McConnell’s neurology team and had evaluated the incident.
“I have informed Leader McConnell that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned. Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration,” Congress’s attending physician, Brian Monahan, wrote.
McConnell’s health issues come amid public concern about the United States’ aging leaders. The Senate has one of the oldest memberships of parliamentary bodies in the world, with the average age of its lawmakers hovering above 64.
Democratic President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection in 2024 at age 80, is the oldest U.S. president ever, while former President Donald Trump, the front-runner among candidates for the Republican nomination, is 77.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone, Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)
