by Recent Senate health scares underscore the age of several American political leaders after the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellR-Ky., fell in Washington, DC last week.
McConnell, 81, fell while eating dinner on Wednesday night and was taken to hospital. His spokesman said the senator was being treated for a concussion.
The autumn drew out critics who attacked the injured senator after the fall.
MCCONNELL GETS TREATMENT FOR A HELP KISSION AFTER A FALL
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks at a markup by the Senate Rules Committee in the Capitol on May 11, 2021 to argue against the For the People Act, which expands voting access and other voting reforms would. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
On Monday afternoon, McConnell spokesman David Popp said the senator’s recovery from his concussion “is progressing well” and that he was “discharged from the hospital,” but he is on his way to “an in-patient rehabilitation facility before returning home.” returns”.
“In the course of this weekend’s treatment, the leader’s medical team determined that he also sustained a minor broken rib on Wednesday, which is also being treated,” Popp said.
“The leader and secretary [Elaine] Chao is deeply grateful for the qualified medical care, prayers and kindness they have received,” he added. Chao is McConnell’s wife.
McConnell’s critics urged the senator to retire after his ouster.
“Mitch McConnell is not fit to lead the Senate GOP. He’s working against everything America First believes that Trump Republicans believe in. He continues to lie about January 6,” wrote Alex Bruesewitz, CEO of consulting firm X Strategies.
“I hope he recovers from his injuries because I don’t wish ill on others, but it’s time for him to retire,” Bruesewitz continued.
At 80, President Biden is the oldest president in history. His predecessor Donald Trump is 76 years old. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
McConnell’s fall came a little less than four years after he fractured his shoulder following another fall at his Louisville home in August 2019.
As a child, the senator was treated for polio, and he’s since admitted to some difficulty climbing stairs in adulthood. However, during an April 2020 interview with The Associated Press, he credited his mother for instilling in him the “tenacity, hard work and not giving up” before he was 4 years old and said she was “determined to make me go.” to see again,” adding that she’s “been a guiding principle of how I live my life.”
While McConnell’s recovery “is progressing well,” the issue of aging and fitness has been raised on social media by politicians in Congress and the White House.
UNITED STATES – NOVEMBER 15: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., exits the Republican Senate luncheon before telling reporters he has the votes to remain leader on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 . Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is challenging him for the post. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The American government is full of experienced guides. Sometimes this experience is acquired over time.
Outside of the presidency, a person may continue to serve in federal office so long as they are re-elected.
This practice has led to calls for term limits by federal politicians, as several octogenarians continue to serve in positions of power — including in the West Wing. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley caused a stir last month when she called for a universal rule requiring politicians over the age of 75 to take “mental competency tests” before running for office.
“In the America I see, the permanent politician is finally going to retire,” Haley said. “We will have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental ability tests for politicians over the age of 75.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pictured above, is 81 years old. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
At 80, President Joe Biden is the oldest president in history. His predecessor Donald Trump is 76 years old.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre has repeatedly defended Biden amid questions about his age.
“We get that question a lot, as you all know,” Jean Pierre said last month. “The president always says that, so watch him.”
“And if you watch him, you’ll see that he has a busy schedule to keep up with that some of us can’t keep up with at times,” she continued.
“This is a president who works and delivers in a grueling manner with a grueling schedule, day in and day out,” Jean Pierre added, calling Biden’s first two years in office “one of the most historic presidencies in his first two years” than “almost any other president “.
Retired California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein is the oldest member of Congress at 89, while Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is very close, several months younger than Feinstein.
Feinstein is retiring after a long career in the Senate, but amid her final tenure in the House of Lords there are concerns about her intellectual acuity.
Last month, Feinstein appeared unaware of her own resignation announcement, telling a group of reporters at the Capitol that she hadn’t made a decision about her future, despite announcing just hours earlier that she would not seek reelection in 2024.
However, Grassley is a big fan of physical fitness and regularly posts online about his workouts. The Iowa Republican also competed in a 2021 push-up competition with Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a former Army Ranger.
The Iowa senator completed 22 push-ups against his Arkansas counterpart.
Taylor Foy, Grassley’s spokesman, told Fox News Digital the senator “maintains one of the busiest schedules in the Senate, coming into the office at 6 a.m. every morning and not missing a vote in decades, except for the COVID quarantine.”
“He also maintains an active and successful legislative history, authoring 50 percent of the bills that passed this Congress,” continued Foy.
A spokesperson for Grassley also told Fox News Digital that Grassley holds Q&A meetings in each of Iowa’s 99 counties every year, pointing to the senator’s 12-point re-election margin as a testament to the trust Iowans have in him.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is 81 years old. At 79, Senator Ben Cardin is the second-oldest Democrat in the Senate.
The median age of the Senate is 64, according to the 118th Congress FiscalNote.com.
At 89, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein is the oldest member of Congress. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images)
The median age in the House of Representatives is 57, with the oldest member, Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., being 86. Washington, DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, is the second oldest at 85.
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Third is Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., the Dean of the House of Representatives, who is 85 years old and serving his 22nd term. The second-oldest Republican in the House of Representatives is Texas Rep. John Carter, who is 81 years old.
In addition, former House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is 82, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California is 82, and former House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer is 83.
Fox News Digital’s Kyle Morris, Brandon Gillespie, Anders Hagstrom and Louis Casiano contributed coverage.
