Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hasn't stepped foot in the Capitol in two weeks, March 8, as he recovers from a fall that left him hospitalized with a concussion.
So how has his absence been felt among the Republicans he leads?
“It is a little strange,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told NBC News. “He’s the captain of the ship, and he’s good at avoiding choppy waters.”
So far, the Senate hasn’t taken up any controversial or significant pieces of legislation in McConnell’s absence, which is welcome news for Republicans.
“No one is better at process and tactics,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said. “It hasn’t been the sort of, high stakes where you want to have a steady hand giving guidance. We haven’t had that situation, fortunately, since he’s been out.”
But with the Senate considering the bipartisan repeal of the Iraq war authorizations Tuesday, McConnell made his position on the effort known.
As Senators walked up to the clerk’s desk in the well of the Senate chamber to cast their votes, they saw a red piece of paper that read: “McConnell recommends voting NO.”
His office confirms that this is the first time since McConnell’s injury the Minority Leader weighed in in this way, on a matter he is certainly not neutral on.
“This is a truly difficult intellectual exercise for us,” Cramer remarked. “And I don’t know that he is overly influential and persuasive on this necessarily, but he certainly would be speaking to it.”
While McConnell continues to recover away from the Senate, senators say he's been making calls to his colleagues and is eager to return.
South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune, McConnell’s number two, has been filling in for the 81-year-old while he’s been gone.
“Well, I mean, he’s the leader,” Thune said. “And so yeah, but I think that he’s got, of course, as you know, a great staff, great team, and we have a lot of very capable members of our leadership team.”
“And so everybody’s kind of stepping up and, and doing what they can to make sure that we got, as I said, all the bases covered until he gets back,” Thune added.
“Mitch is alive and well,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. “His presence is here, and it’s known every day that the lights are on.”
