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Mitch McConnell is “medically clear to continue with his schedule”, the US Congress’s senior medic said on Thursday, one day after the 81-year-old Senate minority leader froze and struggled to answer a reporter’s question.
McConnell’s office on Thursday shared a letter from Brian Monahan, the attending physician for Congress, who said he had “consulted” with the Republican leader and “conferred” with the senator’s “neurology team”.
“Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration,” the physician said.
The latest health scare comes just a month after McConnell suffered a strikingly similar incident while speaking to journalists in Washington, and rekindles uncomfortable questions about the age and health of the senator and other top leaders in Washington.
US president Joe Biden insisted on Thursday that the Republican leader was his “old self”, adding that he had no concerns about McConnell’s ability to do his job.
McConnell had a lengthy absence from the Senate earlier this year after suffering a fall at an event at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington. He was hospitalised and treated for a concussion.
McConnell appeared to freeze for more than 30 seconds on Wednesday after being asked a question by a reporter in his home state of Kentucky. A video of the exchange echoed the incident last month, when McConnell again stopped speaking mid-sentence in front of reporters on Capitol Hill.
Biden, who at 80 years old has also confronted growing voter concerns about his age and fitness for office, told reporters on Thursday afternoon that he had spoken with McConnell by telephone earlier in the day.
Despite being longtime political rivals, Biden and McConnell have a decades-long friendship dating back to the president’s time in the US Senate.
Biden, who suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms in the late 1980s, added: “It is not at all unusual to have a response that sometimes happens to Mitch, when you have had a severe concussion. It is part of the recovery.”
Biden was speaking at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he was meeting workers dealing with the fallout from Hurricane Idalia in Florida and other southern states.
McConnell has been the Senate’s top Republican for 16 years, and is known for keeping a tight grip on his conference. No Republican senators have publicly called for McConnell to step aside in light of his recent health issues.
McConnell is due back on Capitol Hill next week, when the Senate returns to session after a long summer recess.
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