Senator Mitch McConnell has been discharged from a rehabilitation center and will continue recovering from a fall at home, the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican announced on Thursday, ending a weeks-long absence from Capitol Hill that had fueled intense speculation about his health.
McConnell was hospitalized after a fall in June and has been absent from the Senate since, prompting sustained questions about whether the former Republican leader would return to his duties.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period,” McConnell said in his statement.
The senator, who stepped down from his long-held position as Senate Republican leader earlier in the current Congress, remains one of the chamber’s most senior figures. His health has been the subject of scrutiny following a series of public incidents in recent years.
The prolonged absence had drawn political attention in his home state, where questions about his fitness to continue serving intensified during his time away from Washington.
McConnell’s earlier stay in rehabilitation had already forced him to miss key events on the Kentucky calendar, including a traditional summer political gathering, as his recovery stretched across the summer months.
The move to continue physical therapy from home suggests his medical team views his condition as stable enough for outpatient care, though no timeline has been given for his return to the Senate floor.
The Senate is currently in its state work period, a scheduled recess during which lawmakers typically return to their home states. That timing gives McConnell additional weeks to recover before the chamber reconvenes.
His office has not detailed the full extent of his injuries or provided a specific date for his return to legislative business in Washington.