WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell\u2019s\u00a0health episodes<\/span>\u00a0show \u201cno evidence\u201d of being a stroke or seizure disorder, the Capitol physician said in a letter on Tuesday, offering little further explanation for the apparent freeze-ups that have drawn concerns about the 81-year-old\u2019s situation.McConnell\u2019s office released the letter from attending physician Brian P. Monahan as the Senate returns from an extended summer break and questions mount over the long-serving Republican leader\u2019s health. The GOP leader\u00a0froze up last week<\/span>\u00a0during a press conference in Kentucky, unable to respond to a question, the second such episode in a month.<\/p>\u201cThere is no evidence that you have a seizure disorder or that you experienced a stroke, TIA or movement disorder such as Parkinson\u2019s disease,\u201d Monahan wrote, using the acronym for a transient ischemic attack, a brief stroke.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The doctor said the assessments entailed several medical evaluations including a brain MRI imaging and \u201cconsultations with several neurologists for a comprehensive neurology assessment.\u201d The evaluations come after McConnell fell and suffered a concussion earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are no changes recommended in treatment protocols as you continue recovery from your March 2023 fall,\u201d the doctor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After\u00a0last week\u2019s freeze-up, the attending physician to Congress\u00a0cleared McConnell to continue\u00a0with his planned schedule. McConnell arrived Tuesday at the Capitol office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the episodes have fueled quiet concern among Republican senators and intense speculation in Washington about McConnell\u2019s ability to remain as leader. The long-serving senator fell and hit his head at a political dinner this year, suffering\u00a0the concussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It all comes amid a swirl of health concerns in Washington, particularly as COVID-19 cases show signs of rising heading into fall.\u00a0First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19\u00a0over the weekend, but President Joe Biden tested negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, many Republican allies have flocked to McConnell\u2019s side, ensuring the famously guarded leader a well of support. Rivals have muted any calls for a direct challenge to McConnell\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McConnell is expected to address the Senate as it opens for a flurry of fall activity, most notably the need for\u00a0Congress\u00a0to approve funding to prevent any interruption in federal operations by Sept. 30, which is the end of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some House Republicans are willing to shutdown the government at the end of the month if they are unable to enact steep spending restrictions they are fighting for that go beyond the agreement Biden reached with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In leading Senate Republicans, McConnell is viewed by the White House and Democrats as a potentially more pragmatic broker who is more interested in avoiding a messy government shutdown that could be politically damaging to the GOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It all comes amid a swirl of health concerns in Washington, particularly as COVID-19 cases show signs of rising heading into fall.\u00a0First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19\u00a0over the weekend, but President Joe Biden tested negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, many Republican allies have flocked to McConnell\u2019s side, ensuring the famously guarded leader a well of support. Rivals have muted any calls for a direct challenge to McConnell\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McConnell is expected to address the Senate as it opens for a flurry of fall activity, most notably the need for\u00a0Congress\u00a0to approve funding to prevent any interruption in federal operations by Sept. 30, which is the end of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some House Republicans are willing to shutdown the government at the end of the month if they are unable to enact steep spending restrictions they are fighting for that go beyond the agreement Biden reached with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In leading Senate Republicans, McConnell is viewed by the White House and Democrats as a potentially more pragmatic broker who is more interested in avoiding a messy government shutdown that could be politically damaging to the GOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, when he froze up during a press conference at the Capitol last month, he took a short break in his office and then returned to microphones field about a half-dozen other questions and banter with the press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2766,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2764\/revisions\/2766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}